# articles

title: Screwtape on Internet Distractions
topic: Christian Living
author: Amy K. Hall
date: 01/31/2019
source: https://www.str.org/w/screwtape-on-internet-distractions
content:
            <div> 
		<p>Who amongst us has not wasted time on the internet when we’re trying to avoid whatever it is we <em>ought</em> to be doing? I was reading C.S. Lewis’s <em><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Screwtape-Letters-C-S-Lewis/dp/0060652934/ref=sr_1_3_twi_pap_2?ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1548896903&amp;sr=8-3&amp;keywords=screwtape+letters">The Screwtape Letters</a></em> this week, and it convicted me.</p>

<p>If you’re not familiar with <em>The Screwtape Letters</em>, the letters are written from the perspective of a senior tempter (Screwtape) mentoring a junior one (Wormwood). Lewis’s brilliant insight into human nature and the Christian life makes this book one of my favorites; if you haven’t read it, you should.</p>

<p>In the excerpt below, Screwtape speaks about the appropriate method for tempting someone who is currently welcoming any distraction that can keep him from having to think about his current state and what he ought to be doing. His advice to Wormwood is that it will require little work on his part to waste such a person’s life through worthless distractions, and he praises the use of the internet for this purpose. Of course, Screwtape is not actually talking about <em>the internet</em> (the book was published in 1942), but see if what he says doesn’t sound familiar.</p>

<blockquote>
<p>A few weeks ago you had to tempt him to unreality and inattention in his prayers: but now you will find him opening his arms to you and almost begging you to distract his purpose and benumb his heart. He will want his prayers to be unreal, for he will dread nothing so much as effective contact with the Enemy [i.e., God]. His aim will be to let sleeping worms lie.</p>

<p>As this condition becomes more fully established, you will be gradually freed from the tiresome business of providing Pleasures as temptations. As the uneasiness and his reluctance to face it cut him off more and more from all real happiness...you will find that anything or nothing is sufficient to attract his wandering attention. You no longer need a good book, which he really likes, to keep him from his prayers or his work or his sleep; a column of advertisements in yesterday’s paper will do. You can make him waste his time not only in conversation he enjoys with people whom he likes, but in conversations with those he cares nothing about on subjects that bore him. You can make him do nothing at all for long periods. You can keep him up late at night, not roistering, but staring at a dead fire in a cold room. All the healthy and out-going activities which we want him to avoid can be inhibited and nothing given in return, so that at least he may say, as one of my own patients said on his arrival down here, ’I now see that I spent most of my life in doing neither what I ought nor what I liked.’&nbsp;The Christians describe the Enemy [God] as one ’without whom Nothing is strong’. And Nothing is very strong: strong enough to steal away a man’s best years not in sweet sins but in a dreary flickering of the mind over it knows not what and knows not why, in the gratification of curiosities so feeble that the man is only half aware of them, in drumming of fingers and kicking of heels, in whistling tunes that he does not like, or in the long, dim labyrinth of reveries that have not even lust or ambition to give them a relish, but which, once chance association has started them, the creature is too weak and fuddled to shake off.</p>

<p>You will say that these are very small sins; and doubtless, like all young tempters, you are anxious to be able to report spectacular wickedness. But do remember, the only thing that matters is the extent to which you separate the man from the Enemy [God]. It does not matter how small the sins are provided that their cumulative effect is to edge the man away from the Light and out into the Nothing.</p>
</blockquote>

<p>Ouch.</p>
</div>

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title: A Clear and Present Danger to Human Life
topic: Bioethics
author: Alan Shlemon
date: 01/01/2019
source: https://www.str.org/w/a-clear-and-present-danger-to-human-life
content:
            <div> 
		<p>This January 22 marks the 45th anniversary of Roe v. Wade, the landmark US Supreme Court case that ruled that a woman’s right to privacy grants her a right to an abortion. Since then, nearly 55 million unborn children have been killed <em>legally</em> through this grisly procedure. Despite abortion rates slightly declining in the last few years, the threat to innocent human life has not waned.</p>

<p>With the advancement of science, we’ve entered a new era of biotechnology where we’re experimenting on humans even more. Though scientists tell us these state-of-the-art procedures promise to treat disease and disability, very few of them are asking the ethical question: We <em>can</em>, but <em>should</em> we?</p>

<p>George Daley, dean of Harvard University’s medical school, recently declared it’s “time to move forward from [debates about] ethical permissibility to outline the path to clinical translation.”&nbsp;In other words, stop talking about whether we’re doing anything right or wrong, and instead move forward with experimenting on humans. I’m all for advances in our ability to help people who are suffering, but not at the expense of endangering, hurting, or killing innocent human beings. That’s why I’m concerned that abortion is no longer alone in its ability to jeopardize the most vulnerable lives in our society. Since Roe v. Wade, new threats have emerged.</p>

<ol>
	<li><strong>Embryonic stem-cell research (ESCR):</strong> A stem cell is a special type of cell that can transform into any cell type in your body (e.g. skin cell, brain cell, bone cell, etc.). During human development, our bodies use stem cells to create the various tissues and organs that are required to build our body. ESCR is the process of extracting those stem cells in the first week of development, coaxing them to turn into some desired tissue, and then implanting the new tissue in a patient’s body to treat a condition or illness. Removing the stem cells at the embryo stage, though, kills the developing human since he or she requires those cells to create the rest of their body.</li>
	<li><strong>In vitro fertilization:</strong> In vitro fertilization (IVF) is a reproductive technology that assists couples with conceiving a child. The procedure takes the woman’s eggs and the man’s sperm and manually combines them in a laboratory dish. Once sperm and egg combine to form a human embryo, a new human being comes into existence. IVF clinics often create dozens of embryos, only some of which are implanted in the woman’s womb and nurtured to birth. That means there are usually unused “leftover”&nbsp;embryos (the couple’s own children) that are often placed in freezers and left there for years. These frozen human embryos are sought after by scientists for research purposes - often to harvest their stem cells (ESCR), which ends up killing them.</li>
	<li><strong>Cloning:</strong> Cloning is simply a form of reproduction. Humans can be created though sexual intercourse, IVF, and now by cloning. Unlike the first two methods, cloning creates a genetic duplicate (like an identical twin, but of a different age) of a person. The goal, in most cases today, is to create a human body that is a perfect tissue match to the body of a person with a disease or illness. That way, a clone can be stripped of their stem cells or other body parts and have them implanted into the patient’s body with a decreased risk of rejection. This is precisely the problem with cloning: It treats human beings as a means to an end. Clones are not considered equal to other humans. Rather, they are sacrificed as spare parts for another person’s benefit.</li>
	<li><strong>Transhumanism:</strong> Transhumanism is the biotechnological movement that seeks to enhance the human race. By reengineering our bodies, we have the potential for longer lifespans, greater strength, the ability to resist illness, and other augmentations. One of the more troubling aspects of transhumanism is gene editing (using a technique called CRISPR). Much like editing a sentence in a word processor, scientists can modify the human genome to “improve”&nbsp;individuals. Although such methods appear beneficial, the process involves significant trial and error, resulting in the deaths of human embryos during failed experiments.</li>
</ol>

<p>We’re not merely anti-science as Christians, though. Nor are we opposed to treating disease and disability. Because we are made in God’s image (Gen. 1:27), we respect human life and oppose killing innocent human beings or treating them as a means to an end.</p>

<p>Besides, we can proceed with beneficial scientific advancements <em>without</em> jeopardizing human life. For example, stem cells don’t have to be harvested from human embryos, thereby killing innocent life. Scientists can extract stem cells from adults and use them to treat various types of conditions. We’ve been treating human beings with their own adult stem cells for decades, and the results have been astonishingly successful. The same careful approach should be taken with any medical technology. Proceeding with beneficial scientific advancements shouldn’t necessitate the termination of innocent human lives.</p>
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title: Your Role as Christ’s Ambassador Starts in Your Neighborhood
topic: Christian Living
author: Amy K. Hall
date: 12/13/2018
source: https://www.str.org/w/your-role-as-christ-s-ambassador-starts-in-your-neighborhood
content:
            <div> 
		<p>As Christians, we should not focus on politics. I’m not saying we should ignore politics. As citizens of a democracy, we have a duty to seek the good of our nation through informed voting, just as the Jewish exiles were asked to seek the welfare of Babylon (<a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=jer+29%3A7&amp;version=NASB">Jer. 29:7</a>). Neither am I saying that no Christian should seek a career in government. Some are called to live out their Christianity within that vocation as in any other (just as Daniel was called to do in Babylon).</p>

<p>What I <em>am</em> saying is that serving God and representing Christ <em>starts</em> in your home, your neighborhood, your community, with the people you know personally.</p>

<p>Politics can only ever be <em>impersonal</em> because laws deal with the masses, with generalities. Laws are not merciful. They’re unyielding testimonies to what’s right. Grace, on the other hand, doesn’t come through laws; grace comes through persons.</p>

<p>Think of the difference between the Old and New Testaments. There are some who think two different gods appear in these two Testaments, but that isn’t the case. We’re merely seeing the same God govern the masses in much of the Old Testament and interact with <em>individuals</em> in much of the New Testament (there is, of course, some crossover because it’s the same God in both halves of the Bible), and this simply reveals God’s character from two different perspectives, as those two different goals require two different approaches.</p>

<p>We see this distinction in John 1:17: “For the Law was given through Moses; grace and truth were realized through Jesus Christ.”&nbsp;Laws convict and judge on a grand scale. Grace redeems individuals one at a time, and the New Testament gives us a close-up view of this in the life of Jesus.</p>

<p>Laws and government are necessary for maintaining order in any nation (see <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=rom+13%3A1-7&amp;version=NASB">Rom. 13:1–7</a>), and they do much to educate people on what is right and wrong, convicting us of our guilt and need for forgiveness. Laws can reveal God’s holiness and righteousness, but the <em>grace</em> of God is not something the body of Christ can convey to people through laws; it’s something that must be communicated individually, person to person. And it’s the grace of God—the gospel—that saves and changes people.</p>

<p>So now we’re back to this: Serving God and representing Christ <em>starts</em> in your home, your neighborhood, your community, with the people you know personally, not with politics. So make sure the priorities you set for your time, attention, and effort reflect this truth.</p>

<p>In an article titled “<a href="https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/article/evangelize-friends-identifying-lgbtq/">How to Evangelize Friends Identifying as LGBTQ</a>,”&nbsp;Rosaria Butterfield, author of <em><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Gospel-Comes-House-Key-Post-Christian/dp/143355786X/ref=sr_1_1_twi_har_2?ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1544651901&amp;sr=8-1&amp;keywords=the+gospel+comes+with+a+house+key">The Gospel Comes with a House Key</a></em>, paints a compellingly beautiful picture of what this could look like for you and your church:</p>

<blockquote>
<p>Where should you start? As a church community, designate a house where members live and where people can gather daily. Yes, I said daily. And then start gathering daily. And not by invitation only.</p>

<p>Make it a place where the day closes with a meal for all, and with Bible reading and prayer, and where unbelievers are invited to hear the words of grace and salvation, where children of all ages are welcome, and where unbelievers and believers break bread and ideas shoulder to shoulder.</p>

<p>This is the best way that I know of to evangelize your LGBTQ neighbors—and everyone else. To live communally as Bible-believing Christians who care for each other in body and soul. To live openly, such that you know each other well enough to know each other’s sin patterns and temptations. To be a community where everyone is repenting of something all the time. To be a community where Christ could come, eat, wash his feet, and lay down his head. To be a community where hard conversations are had over warm soup and fresh bread.</p>
</blockquote>

<p>Read the rest <a href="https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/article/evangelize-friends-identifying-lgbtq/">here</a>.</p>
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title: When the Fall Overshadows Festivity
topic: Christian Living
author: Brooke Steinbacher
date: 11/29/2018
source: https://www.str.org/w/when-the-fall-overshadows-festivity
content:
            <div> 
		<p>My hometown of Thousand Oaks - a place once known as a serene and safe gem between L.A. and Santa Barbara - made headlines not long ago as the location of the United States’&nbsp;most recent mass shooting at the Borderline Bar and Grill. We barely began to mourn that tragedy when the Woolsey and Hill fires began, claiming many homes in our community.</p>

<p>How are we supposed to enter into the holiday season when disaster is still heavy on our hearts? Festive tunes like Deck the Halls and Holly Jolly Christmas are usually on repeat as soon as Thanksgiving ends. But the lyrics to those songs just don’t ring true this year. At least not yet. How can we take part in the moments leading up to Christmas when merriment eludes us?</p>

<p>The answer is Advent.</p>

<p>Advent is a time for God’s people to wait and hope for the arrival of the Savior. It’s a time of longing. Advent recognizes the yearning the world experienced before Jesus was born, and it also invites us to acknowledge our hunger for Jesus’&nbsp;second coming.</p>

<p>Christmas celebrates a longing fulfilled by Jesus’&nbsp;birth. His death and resurrection secured salvation for His followers. He guarantees an end to loss and pain. But until our Savior returns again, we still live in a broken world that aches for everything to be made right.</p>

<p>Tragedies illuminate the world’s fractures and the fact that nothing can save us from destruction except for Jesus. Often, those of us experiencing loss during the holidays can feel overlooked when we’re surrounded by festivity and cheer.</p>

<p>If you’re currently morning a loss, I encourage you to rest in this season of Advent. Be comforted by the generations of Christians before you who have used the weeks leading up to Christmas to grieve the real effects of sin. You’re not alone.</p>

<p>Although Advent can be a time of deep sadness, our sadness is not without hope. Just as a longing was fulfilled over two thousand years ago by the arrival of God in the form of a baby, we can know that our desires will be fulfilled and suffering will end when Jesus returns once more.</p>

<p>Adding to the heaviness of the Advent season for us at STR this year is the anniversary of our dear Melinda’s <a href="https://www.str.org/blog/urgent-prayer-request-melinda#.W_8OvpNKijR">fall</a>, which caused her severe brain damage. By the grace of God, she’s been showing some exciting signs of <a href="https://www.caringbridge.org/visit/melindapenner/journal">improvement</a>. Melinda encouraged others to understand and recognize the meaning of Advent. She went into more detail about Advent <a href="https://www.str.org/blog/ideas-observing-advent#.W_8NXpNKijQ">here</a>.</p>

<p>If you enjoy Christmas music but don’t feel your usual playlist resonates this year, here is a list of Advent-specific songs you may find comforting:</p>

<ul>
	<li><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cAjhncFTYD0&amp;index=8&amp;list=PLTKNPn6Epd2pc8ZmLa0sWdmRXNWRfxT0W">O Come, O Come Emmanuel</a></li>
	<li><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GFglg30S3qc">O Come, Divine Messiah</a></li>
	<li><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T1CAZi_PmLA">Of the Father’s Love Begotten</a></li>
	<li><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w1QKs7A4Wkg">In Labor All Creation Groans</a></li>
	<li><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ol78eWbhE1o">Savior of the Nations, Come</a></li>
	<li><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gv535LQSSmg">Come Thou Long Expected Jesus</a></li>
	<li><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qFltgYCHDKA">Comfort, Comfort Now My People</a></li>
</ul>
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title: 25 Years Ago, We Never Could Have Imagined This…
topic: Announcements
author: Greg Koukl
date: 12/01/2018
source: https://www.str.org/w/25-years-ago-we-never-could-have-imagined-this
content:
            <div> 
		<p>A quarter of a century is a long time.</p>

<p>In 1993, Melinda Penner and I started Stand to Reason with a vision and a prayer and a small band of volunteers, never imagining 25 years later it would have international reach and global impact, by God’s hand and your help—that tens of thousands would be trained as effective ambassadors, standing for Christ in turbulent times. Yet here we are.</p>

<p><strong>Many STR friends have told me that, because of their parents, we’ve been in their lives since they were kids. Now parents themselves, they’re passing the baton—through STR—to their own children.</strong>&nbsp;“<em>We can never repay you for what God has done in our life through you,”</em>&nbsp;one told me. “<em>Nothing describes how blessed our family is as a result.”</em></p>

<p>Over the past 25 years, students have been both challenged and instructed in dozens of universities both here and abroad. We’ve done debates on campuses and on national radio and TV with atheists, New Age gurus, and skeptics of all sorts.</p>

<p>Our team members have been guests on countless radio shows and even TV, featured in multiple documentaries, and been plenary speakers in the biggest apologetics conferences in the country. We’ve spoken in virtually every state in the union and in over a dozen countries on five continents.</p>

<p>Former STR speakers have struck out on their own, now having massive impact heading their own enterprises—Scott Klusendorf with Life Training Institute, Stephen Wagner with Justice for All, J. Warner Wallace with Cold-Case Christianity, and now Brett Kunkle with Maven.</p>

<p>It’s been quite a ride. But we have not done it alone. <strong>We are so thankful for you and other faithful prayer warriors and generous financial partners</strong> from all over the world who’ve held us up, keeping us in the fight year after year. <strong>We are making a huge difference together!</strong></p>

<p>But there’s no time to rest because we’re not done yet. Attacks on our convictions from the cultural elites have only intensified. Even many believers identify more with relativism than with a biblical worldview. We should not—no, we cannot—pause. <strong>We must forge ahead boldly and with strength. Truth is on our side. But we can’t proceed without you. We need your financial support and prayers more than ever.</strong></p>

<p>Melinda’s terrible accident last December sidelined her indefinitely, but that tragedy has not slowed us down. Her legacy continues with the incredible team she trained—now completely reorganized and expanded—moving ahead full throttle. In fact, at 25, we’re really hitting our stride. One word describes my aim for our future: Forward!</p>

<ul>
	<li>Our regional reTHINK Apologetics Student Conferences continue to impact the next generation of Christian Ambassadors. We expect 2019 to rival attendance in 2018 where we had a total of almost 5,500 students, parents, and leaders in Dallas, Birmingham, and Southern California (which was completely sold out!). In November, we’re praying for 3,000 young people for our first Midwest reTHINK at Grace Church Eden Prairie, the largest church in Minnesota.</li>
	<li>We’re launching a completely rebuilt, up-to-date, user-friendly, multi-platform website, with hundreds of videos, thousands of articles, new bloggers, and self-directed online apologetics training capability (think Khan Academy).</li>
	<li>We’re adding more speakers, staff, and content providers to increase our impact.</li>
	<li>This year <em>The Story of Reality</em> won two national “Book of the Year”&nbsp;awards. In 2019, Zondervan will release a <em>Reality</em> study guide, <em>Reality</em> group study DVDs, and the 10-year-anniversary 2nd edition of the best-seller, <em>Tactics</em>.</li>
</ul>

<p>All this is possible only because of faithful financial partners like you. And 2019 promises so much more. <strong>This kind of impact and vision for the future has inspired a group of dedicated partners to pledge $230,000 this month to challenge you and other friends to give generously to equal or exceed their gift</strong>. <em>Will you accept the Challenge and send your best gift today?</em></p>

<p>A recent event attendee told us, “<em>Though I realize I don’t know as much about God as I’d like to, reTHINK has kindled a desire to learn more about Him and I love it!”</em>&nbsp;You and the next generation of Christian Ambassadors like this student are why your gift now is so critical. We have big momentum, big plans for next year, and a big need of your help so we can forge ahead. But we will not spend money we don’t have—it’s not our way—so I’m simply asking you to give aggressively this month.</p>

<p>A strong finish this year propels us forward into 2019 with the resources we need to continue equipping more churches, students, and individuals to resist the cultural tide with unwavering commitment to our vision of “<em>Confidence for every Christian, clear thinking for every challenge, and courage and grace for every encounter.”</em></p>

<p>And when you send your gift to us, we have something special for you. We call it our “Best of STR”&nbsp;package*, a multimedia set of some of our most popular resources.</p>

<p><strong>Please consider the Challenge. Every dollar you give today will move STR that much closer to meeting—and even exceeding—the $230,000 Challenge amount.</strong> I hope to hear from you by December 31, and when I do I’ll send you the “Best of STR”&nbsp;gift package to say thank you for your generous gift. It’s a tremendous help to us and will be a tremendous help to you and all who are equipped to stand in confident and gracious defense of Christianity.</p>

<p>So grateful for your kindness,</p>

<p>Gregory Koukl</p>

<p>P.S. I can’t emphasize enough how much your friendship with STR means to every member on our team. I look forward to all we’ll accomplish together in 2019. <strong>Let’s end 2018 with full strength by exceeding the $230,000 Challenge Gift!</strong></p>

<p><a href="https://www.str.org/donate" target="_blank"><strong>Click here to give to STR</strong></a></p>

<p>* The “Best of STR”&nbsp;multimedia package features: 1. <em>The Story of Reality: Creation, Design, Fall, and Redemption</em> (DVD video), 2. <em>The Columbo Tactic: How to Maneuver with Grace in Any Conversation</em> (DVD video), 3. <em>Dear Friend: Letters to Christian Ambassadors</em> (book), 4. <em>The Ambassador’s Guide to Pluralism</em> (book), 5. <em>Never Read a Bible Verse</em> (CD audio), 6. Jesus, the Only Way (quick-reference card), 7. MP3 collection of select radio commentary, interviews, calls, and #STRask podcasts (USB thumb drive).</p>
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title: Help Your Child Think Clearly and Graciously about Homosexuality
topic: Christian Living
author: Amy K. Hall
date: 12/11/2018
source: https://www.str.org/w/help-your-child-think-clearly-and-graciously-about-homosexuality
content:
            <div> 
		<p>I was contacted by a father whose 12-year-old daughter’s required summer reading list included <em>The Misfits</em>, a novel that “prominently features a gay character, and is obviously meant to introduce the students to homosexuality in a positive way.”&nbsp;He asked me for advice on what he should do. Should he push back against the school? Read the book with his daughter? Something else?</p>

<p>Since this is the kind of situation many of you could find yourselves in at some point, I thought I’d share my answer here.</p>

<p>_________________</p>

<p>At Stand to Reason, we generally recommend “inoculation”&nbsp;rather than isolation as a strategy for dealing with things like this. Rather than keeping her from reading the book, I think the best thing for you to do would be to read the book along with your daughter, discussing these things along the way:</p>

<ul>
	<li>Explain the Christian view of sexuality.</li>
	<li>Explain the Christian view of loving people, even those who are sinning in ways we aren’t.</li>
	<li>Talk about the hurt and pain the gay character might be experiencing as a “misfit.”</li>
	<li>Look at all of the above in light of the gospel. Help her see that following Jesus is better than merely following our desires, and that the characters in the novel need Jesus.</li>
	<li>Help her think about how she can show love to her gay friends at school and be a good representative of Jesus as she follows Him in obedience.</li>
	<li>Teach her that “love”&nbsp;doesn’t always mean approval.</li>
	<li>Help her to see the ways in which the book is promoting a view that isn’t Christian. Ask her to identify the view they’re promoting, and ask her to contrast it with a Christian view.</li>
	<li>Note especially if they portray those who have a biblical view of sexuality in a bad light. Help her to see that this is propaganda to further the author’s goals, and that propaganda doesn’t necessarily match reality. Do this calmly and without fear or anger. Help her learn to be rational and not driven by emotion or manipulated as she analyzes culture.</li>
	<li>Teach her to recognize when an author has an agenda and to identify how he/she is trying to promote that agenda.</li>
	<li>Talk to her about Christians who have same-sex attractions who are faithfully following Jesus by remaining celibate (such as <a href="/w/sam-allberry-is-god-anti-gay-january-28-2014-">Sam Allberry</a>). They are full members of the body of Christ, contributing members of the evangelical Christian community.</li>
	<li>Talk to her about sexual temptations <em>she</em> will face so that she’ll understand we’re <em>all</em> battling sexual temptations and need to submit our sexuality to Christ.</li>
</ul>

<p>The best thing you can do for your daughter is to help her 1) look at her gay classmates in light of the gospel and a recognition of her own sin and need for grace, and 2) understand the Christian worldview and recognize when someone is promoting something that’s opposed to Christianity—particularly if they’re using emotion to try to sway people towards their view. If she can learn to recognize this, that will help her to resist it.</p>

<p>Here are some short posts you might want to review as you enter into this conversation (or perhaps the two of you could read these together, as well, and discuss them):</p>

<ul>
	<li><a href="/w/sexuality-identity-sin-and-denying-ourselves-to-follow-christ">Sexuality, Identity, Sin, and Denying Ourselves to Follow Christ</a></li>
	<li><a href="/w/be-willing-to-submit-to-our-good-god-on-the-issue-of-homosexuality">Be Willing to Submit to Our Good God on the Issue of Homosexuality</a></li>
	<li><a href="/w/gay-or-straight-we-all-must-decide-if-we-love-jesus-above-all-else">Gay or Straight, We All Must Decide if We Love Jesus above All Else</a></li>
	<li><a href="/w/worshipping-images-of-ourselves">Worshipping Images of Ourselves</a></li>
	<li><a href="/w/to-the-christian-who-is-being-tempted-by-a-relationship">To the Christian Who Is Being Tempted by a Relationship</a></li>
	<li><a href="/w/sam-allberry-is-god-anti-gay-january-28-2014-">Sam Allberry – Is God Anti-Gay?</a></li>
	<li><a href="/w/homosexuality-know-the-truth-and-speak-it-with-compassion">Homosexuality: Know the Truth and Speak it with Compassion</a></li>
	<li><a href="/w/what-does-god-s-love-look-like-">What Does God’s Love Look Like?</a></li>
	<li><a href="/w/responding-to-pride-month-with-genuine-love">Responding to Pride Month with Genuine Love</a></li>
	<li><a href="/w/is-the-biblical-stance-against-homosexuality-necessarily-unloving-">Is the Biblical Stance against Homosexuality Necessarily Unloving?</a></li>
</ul>
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title: The Black Box of IVF
topic: Bioethics
author: Alan Shlemon
date: 12/18/2018
source: https://www.str.org/w/the-black-box-of-ivf
content:
            <div> 
		<p>What would you do if you and your spouse were eager to have a child but were told you had a one in a million chance of getting pregnant? That’s the reality a couple I recently talked to faced. Due to a medical condition, it was virtually impossible for them to get pregnant unless they considered in vitro fertilization (IVF).</p>

<p>So, that’s what they did. The couple went to a clinic, learned about the process, and signed up to begin. After all, it was a well-known facility with an excellent reputation for “success,”&nbsp;so they felt like the IVF team knew what they were doing and trusted them with the results.</p>

<p>After going through the process of maturing the wife’s eggs, removing the mature ones, and fertilizing them with the husband’s sperm, the IVF clinic sent the couple home to await the results of the fertilization process.</p>

<p>They went back to the clinic, and that’s when things got messy. The staff told them they successfully fertilized 29 eggs. That’s right. The IVF clinic had created 29 human embryos, which meant this couple now had 29 offspring!</p>

<p>Things got worse. The couple discovered that only 22 of their offspring were given a high health rating and, consequently, the IVF clinic had “discarded”&nbsp;seven of them. The healthy 22 were resting comfortably in a freezer, awaiting transfer into the wife’s womb.</p>

<p>Before the couple knew anything about what had happened, the IVF clinic staff had “created”&nbsp;29 of their children, killed seven of them, and frozen the remaining 22.</p>

<p>This pro-life Christian couple was distraught. Though they wanted to get pregnant, they would have never consented to such disregard for human life - to creating and mistreating their own flesh and blood. But having not investigated the details or asked clarifying questions, they now realized the disturbing truth of what they had participated in.</p>

<p>Though they eventually used two embryos and gave birth to two children, they were then left with 20 tiny embryos. Realizing that they were responsible for the health and safety of their offspring, they had no other option but to keep them in the freezer, which the IVF clinic happily charges them $600/year to keep plugged in.</p>

<p>The couple expressed their concern that they were not informed about the details of what many people in our culture believe is an ethical matter of whether human embryos are bona fide human beings and deserve protection.</p>

<p>“No problem,”&nbsp;the IVF clinic assured them. Apparently, there’s a plan for couples who believe the ridiculous idea that these tiny clusters of cells are valuable persons who deserve to be treated with dignity. It’s called “compassionate transfer.”&nbsp;The clinic will take your leftover embryos and transfer them into the wife��s womb where it’s <em>possible</em> to get pregnant, but at an inopportune time in her cycle so it’s <em>unlikely</em> the embryos will “take”&nbsp;or survive. That way - the couple was told - if you believe in God and He wants the embryo to live, it will live long enough to “become a baby.”&nbsp;If not, however, we’re “disposing”&nbsp;of it in your body so it’s more natural.</p>

<p>Ugh. I felt depressed after talking to this couple. I’ve <a href="https://www.str.org/blog/premarital-counseling-needs-to-include-this" target="_blank">written some of my ethical concerns about IVF</a>, but having never used the services of a clinic like this one, I didn’t know how the process might unfold.</p>

<p>It made me wonder what the couple would do differently if they were to go through the IVF process again. “Don’t fertilize them all at once,“&nbsp;the wife quickly answered. “Fertilize only one or two at a time.”</p>

<p>My advice has always been similar: Don’t create more embryos than the number of children you’re willing to have, and don’t implant more embryos in your womb than you’re willing to carry at one time. The first part of my advice is to prevent having leftover children sitting in a freezer. The second is to prevent the need for “selective reduction,”&nbsp;or the killing of one of the kids in your womb because you’re pregnant with too many.</p>

<p>The couple also gave me some interesting advice to offer other couples who are facing infertility and who may consider IVF.</p>

<ul>
	<li>Interview your future. Talk to another Christian couple who’s been through this process and is 10 years down the road from where you are.</li>
	<li>Educate yourself, from start to finish, on the IVF process.</li>
	<li>Consider the toll that hormone treatment takes on your body, and decide whether it is worth the cost.</li>
	<li>Consider all the decisions you might make and <a href="https://www.str.org/blog/tragic-consequences-ivf-industry" target="_blank">all the possible outcomes</a>.</li>
	<li>Ask yourself what God might be doing with this situation.</li>
	<li>Ask yourself, “What is your motivation for having children? Why do you insist on having your own biological children that you conceive?”</li>
</ul>

<p>I learned a lot from this couple’s story. I know they want others to be informed about this process. They don’t want others to experience the turmoil and heartache they faced, which is why they were willing to share their story with me.</p>

<p>I suspect that, for many people, IVF is a black box. Sure, it can help couples with infertility. Sure, it can help you have a child of your own. But what’s happening in the process? A lot of people don’t know. Given the brave new world we live in, we can’t presume that medical technologies are consistent with Christian ethics. We must do our due diligence and investigate medical treatments, services, and medicines to ensure we’re not endangering precious lives that we’re called to protect.</p>

<p><em>NOTE: If you would like to speak to this couple, please <a href="https://www.str.org/contact-us" target="_blank">contact Stand to Reason</a> and they will connect you with them. They want to be available to help others.</em></p>
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title: All of Jesus and Joy Evermore!
topic: Christian Living
author: Amy K. Hall
date: 12/25/2018
source: https://www.str.org/w/all-of-jesus-and-joy-evermore-
content:
            <div> 
		<p>“And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth”&nbsp;(John 1:14).</p>

<p>It’s Christmas Day, and it’s stunning to think that the incarnation really happened. The Father sent the Son and “made us alive together with Him”&nbsp;“because of His great love with which He loves us,“&nbsp;”so that in the ages to come He might show the surpassing riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus”&nbsp;(Eph. 2:4–7).</p>

<p>When our culture hears the word “holiness,”&nbsp;it imagines dour-looking people sitting primly in dark rooms. If there’s a Christian depicted in popular culture, he’s sure to be dull and grim. But God has always been a God of joy, and He intends for us to be joyful as we reflect on Him and His holiness.</p>

<p>Consider Nehemiah 8:9–12, when the Jewish exiles return from Babylon. The priests read to them from the law of God, and the people begin to weep. Nehemiah tells them that this time of restoring their covenant with God isn’t a time for weeping <em>because</em> it is holy:</p>

<blockquote>
<p>“This day is holy to the Lord your God; do not mourn or weep.... Go, eat of the fat, drink of the sweet, and send portions to him who has nothing prepared; for this day is holy to our Lord. Do not be grieved, for the joy of the Lord is your strength.”&nbsp;So the Levites calmed all the people, saying, “Be still, for the day is holy; do not be grieved.”&nbsp;All the people went away to eat, to drink, to send portions and to celebrate a great festival, because they understood the words which had been made known to them.</p>
</blockquote>

<p>This is a God of life, and joy, and grace. This is the God who sent His Son to take on flesh and die for us to bring us a life of joy. This is the God for whom countless people throughout the centuries have given up everything—because He is better than all things. People who, as Paul said, “count all things to be loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them but rubbish so that I may gain Christ”&nbsp;(Phil. 3:8).</p>

<p>I was reminded of a <a href="http://scriptoriumdaily.com/777/">quote</a> by <a href="https://www.tkc.edu/faculty-and-staff/dr-john-mark-reynolds/">John Mark Reynolds</a> that I saved long ago:</p>

<blockquote>
<p>We serve a God who is never tired, never broke, and never in need. He is the good Father who has unlimited resources to help those He loves and He loves us! There is no end to His abundance. We are not saved to give up things for the sake of the pain. We are saved from material pleasures to wade deeper into His great grace and joy. The more of that joy we experience, the more is accessible to us. The fasts and disciplines of the Church are for our good, for our joy. When we complain about restraints, we are like children who cannot enjoy the ride at Disneyland for fear of the lap bar. Nothing is done to us that will cost us a single real pleasure. Instead, every order, every move, on the part of God is a further invitation to a deeper plunge into his great goodness and grace. It is almost unfair that we get to be Christians. All of Jesus and joy evermore.</p>
</blockquote>

<p>Merry Christmas!</p>
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title: How Apologetics Can Address the Six Reasons Why Young People Leave the Church
topic: Tactics and Tools
author: Tim Barnett
date: 11/27/2018
source: https://www.str.org/w/how-apologetics-can-address-the-six-reasons-why-young-people-leave-the-church
content:
            <div> 
		<p>After a five-year study, Barna Research president David Kinnaman found that 6 in 10 young people leave the church either permanently or for an extended period of time, beginning at age 15. This is an alarming statistic. Many people once thought the exodus from the faith started in college. Kinnaman found that it actually begins in the early teens.</p>

<p>This research does more than tell us <em>when</em> young people are leaving. It informs us as to <em>why</em> they are leaving.</p>

<p>In 2012, Christianity Today summarized Kinnaman’s findings into <a href="https://www.christianitytoday.com/pastors/2012/winter/youngleavechurch.html">six reasons why young people leave the church</a>.</p>

<blockquote>
<p><strong>Isolationism.</strong> One-fourth of 18- to 29-year-olds say church demonizes everything outside church, including the music, movies, culture, and technology that define their generation.</p>

<p><strong>Shallowness.</strong> One-third call church boring, about one-fourth say faith is irrelevant and Bible teaching is unclear. One-fifth say God is absent from their church experience.</p>

<p><strong>Anti-science.</strong> Up to one-third say the church is out of step on scientific developments and debate.</p>

<p><strong>Sex.</strong> The church is perceived as simplistic and judgmental. For a fifth or more, a “just say no”&nbsp;philosophy is insufficient in a techno-porno world. Young Christian singles are as sexually active as their non-churched friends, and many say they feel judged.</p>

<p><strong>Exclusivity.</strong> Three in 10 young people feel the church is too exclusive in this pluralistic and multi-cultural age. And the same number feel forced to choose between their faith and their friends.</p>

<p><strong>Doubters.</strong> The church is not a safe place to express doubts say over one-third of young people, and one-fourth have serious doubts they’d like to discuss.</p>
</blockquote>

<p>As I read through this list, two things immediately jumped out at me. First, each of these reasons relates - in some degree - to apologetics. Now I realize this may sound a little self-serving coming from an apologist, but it’s true. If the church would begin to take the life of the mind more seriously and equip its young people to understand and defend their faith, we could meet these challenges head on.*</p>

<p>Second, we have good answers to these challenges. Let me give you one or two practical resources to help address each of these challenges.</p>

<p><strong>First,</strong> we need to stop <em>isolating</em> our young people. Many churches are places of isolation - small Christian islands secluded from the rest of the world. This is a mistake. We should be <em>engaging</em> our culture, not <em>ignoring</em> it. And we cannot engage what we do not understand.</p>

<p>So, what’s the solution? We need to stop <em>isolating</em> our young people and start <em>inoculating</em> them. My colleague Alan Shlemon put it <a href="/w/inoculate-don-t-isolate">this way</a>:</p>

<blockquote>
<p>It’s tempting to shelter young believers from false ideas. We think we’re protecting them, but we end up isolating them. This backfires because we don’t prepare them to dialogue with those who disagree with them. When they encounter a false idea, young believers get caught off guard. They’re more likely to be seduced to believe something we’ve worked hard to protect them from.</p>

<p>Instead, we need to inoculate young believers against false ideas. This is similar to the way we inoculate against a virus. To vaccinate against polio, for example, you ingest an attenuated (weakened, but alive) virus. Your immune system responds by producing antibodies, killer cells that seek and destroy the virus. That way, when your body is exposed to polio in the real world, your immune system isn’t caught off guard. It neutralizes the threat with its army of antibodies. Inoculating young believers against a false idea works the same way.</p>
</blockquote>

<p><a href="/w/inoculate-don-t-isolate">Here</a> is a fabulous example of inoculation in action.</p>

<p><strong>Second,</strong> we need to submerge our young people in deep theological teaching. This includes teaching them how to articulate and defend the theological truths of classical Christianity. The life of the mind plays a fundamental role in the life of the believer. In fact, engaging the minds of our young people with the rich truths of the Christian faith plays a crucial role in their continuing in the faith past high school.</p>

<p>Pizza parties, movie nights, and laser tag alone aren’t going to cut it. If we want to keep our young people, we need to stop <em>entertaining</em> them and start <em>educating</em> them with life-giving, confidence-building, worship-inspiring theological truth.</p>

<p>This is why we have created the <a href="http://rethinkapologetics.com.s3-website-us-west-1.amazonaws.com/">reTHINK Apologetics Student Conferences</a>. These two-day conferences are designed to challenge young minds to think about their faith in ways they may never have before.</p>

<p>Also, think about downloading the Stand to Reason <a href="/podcasts">podcasts</a>. Some truths are better caught than taught. Listening to Greg Koukl think through tough topics will help you become a more thoughtful Christian.</p>

<p><strong>Third,</strong> we need to show our young people that science and faith are <a href="/w/has-science-buried-god-">perfectly compatible</a>. Science is not an enemy to the Christian worldview. In fact, modern science was birthed out of the Judeo-Christian worldview. It is no surprise, then, that <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-tQKCz19K78">the heavens declare the glory of God</a>.</p>

<p><strong>Fourth,</strong> we need to teach our young people that <a href="/w/is-god-a-sex-killjoy-">God isn’t a sex killjoy</a>. Rather, sex was designed with a purpose, to be enjoyed within limits. Listen to Alan Shlemon again:</p>

<blockquote>
<p>But God isn’t <em>against</em> sex. He’s <em>for</em> sex, but according to the way He intended it. The Bible paints a beautiful picture of what sex is supposed to be. Remember, it’s God who made sex (Gen. 1:27-28; 2:24). Our culture didn’t give us sex. God gave us sex. In fact, it was His idea to make it procreative and His idea to make it pleasurable...</p>

<p>Any deviation from that God-ordained design causes damage. It’s not that God doesn’t want us to have sex. It’s that He doesn’t want us to get hurt or to hurt others, which is what happens when we attempt to have sex in ways it was not designed to be enjoyed. He cares about us, and that’s why He gives us guidelines.</p>
</blockquote>

<p><strong>Fifth</strong>, we need to balance an <em>exclusive message</em> with an <em>inclusive manner</em>. True, the gospel message is an exclusivist <em>claim</em> - Jesus is the only way to be saved. But this does not mean we exclude <em>people</em>, or treat others as less than what they are - divine image bearers. Whether it’s the <a href="/w/transgender-truth-and-compassion">transgender issue</a>, <a href="/w/homosexuality-know-the-truth-and-speak-it-with-compassion">homosexuality</a>, or a host of other issues, we must do our best to model truth and compassion.</p>

<p><strong>Sixth,</strong> we need to encourage young people to <a href="/w/can-christians-have-doubts-about-god-1">raise their doubts</a>. Doubts that are left ignored and unanswered will only lead to despair. Consequently, our Christian community ought to be a safe place to articulate our doubts.</p>

<p>Once you’ve raised your doubts, don’t stop there. It’s time to <a href="/w/worldview-training-in-action">doubt your doubts</a>. This is where apologetics comes in. Try framing your doubts as questions, then search for good answers. More specifically, look for reasons to doubt your doubts. Most doubts collapse under the weight of the evidence for Christianity.</p>

<p>Apologetics isn’t esoteric or abstruse; it’s <em>practical</em>. Apologetics helps to provide real responses to the reasons young people are leaving the faith.</p>

<p>*I’m not saying this is the <em>only</em> response. However, I believe apologetics - in varying degrees - plays a significant role in responding to these challenges.</p>
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title: Using PragerU to Engage the Minds of Your Kids
topic: Christian Living
author: Tim Barnett
date: 12/12/2018
source: https://www.str.org/w/using-prageru-to-engage-the-minds-of-your-kids
content:
            <div> 
		<p>There’s an endless number of things competing for the attention of our children. Video games, Netflix, and iPad Apps are just a few of the things vying for a piece of their minds. Unfortunately, most of these activities <em>do not</em> involve any kind of deep intellectual engagement.</p>

<p>As a father of three young girls, I’m always on the lookout for opportunities to engage the minds of my kids. Like many Christian fathers, I desire to teach my children to use their minds to love and glorify God.</p>

<p>Sadly, critical thinking doesn’t come naturally. In fact, the natural tendency is for the mind to be uncritical. Like a knife, our minds can be <em>sharpened</em> through the regular practice of critical thinking.</p>

<p>Recently, I have added a fun exercise to my eldest daughter’s bedtime routine. I’ve found it to be wildly successful in getting her to think critically about big ideas. Since this has worked so well in our home, I thought I’d pass it along to you.</p>

<p>The bedtime routine in our home isn’t unique. After reading a story and praying together, my girls all go to their own bedrooms. My wife and I put the younger two to bed first. Once they are asleep - or almost asleep - I head to my eldest daughter’s room.</p>

<p>After she reads to me and practices her Bible memory, we pull out my phone, snuggle up together, and open up YouTube.</p>

<p>That’s right, I let my seven-year-old daughter watch YouTube before bed.</p>

<p>But we don’t just watch <em>any</em> YouTube videos. We watch <a href="https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCZWlSUNDvCCS1hBiXV0zKcA">PragerU videos</a>. In fact, our current routine is to watch one PragerU video each night, followed by an interactive discussion of the main ideas in the video.</p>

<p>One of the things I’ve noticed is that my daughter loves to think deeply before bed. For her, this is when she loves to ask meaningful questions and share personal stories. This is when I witness how grown up my baby has become.</p>

<p>Of course, she might <em>also</em> be trying to prolong her bedtime. But I’m fine with that because our late night discussions have turned into soul-stretching, mind-sharpening, and character-forming experiences.</p>

<p>The catalyst for our nightly discussions is a PragerU video of her choosing, with one exception. I get to veto any videos that I don’t think are age appropriate.<sup id="fnref:1"><a href="#fn:1">1</a></sup> If that happens, she is happy to pick another video.</p>

<p>There are three reasons why these videos have been so effective in stimulating the interest of my seven-year-old.</p>

<p>First, PragerU videos are thought provoking. Each five-minute video focuses on a <em>big idea</em>. In many cases, the big idea is also a new idea that my daughter has never considered before. As you could imagine, this stimulates a lot of questions. And kids love to ask questions.</p>

<p>For instance, we recently watched the video <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ymajOjVQPm4&amp;list=PLIBtb_NuIJ1w9rrlXRueM3opfoV0rUenS&amp;index=1">What’s a Greater Leap of Faith: God or the Multiverse?</a> A minute and a half into the video, my daughter asked, “What’s a multiverse?”</p>

<p>I paused the video and said, “Well, honey, a multiverse is the idea that there’s an infinite number of universes.”</p>

<p>She thought for a moment and then replied, “If there’s an infinite number of universes, then does that mean Narnia is real?”</p>

<p>This led to a fun conversation about possible worlds and what it would mean if an infinite number of universes actually existed.</p>

<p>Second, PragerU videos are visually engaging. I think one of the reasons these videos have been so popular on YouTube is that they use creative animations to communicate ideas. Like me, my daughter is a visual learner. It helps to see abstract ideas explained using artistic images. I don’t think she is unique in that regard. In fact, I think most kids would identify as visual learners, although in varying degrees.</p>

<p>Third, PragerU videos are short. The attention span of my seven-year-old isn’t long. It is unrealistic for me to expect her to sit through a 45-minute lecture or sermon. This is why the PragerU format is so great. They offer <em>big</em> topics in a <em>bite-sized</em> timespan. They are succinct without compromising depth.</p>

<p>PragerU videos offer great educational <em>content</em>.<sup id="fnref:2"><a href="#fn:2">2</a></sup> But that isn’t my primary purpose for showing them. Rather, it’s the <em>conversation</em> that I’m after. The video serves as a springboard to get to conversations. It’s in our discussions that I get to hear my daughter articulate her thoughts and defend her opinions. This is also when I get to look for ways to encourage right thinking and correct wrong thinking.</p>

<p>This routine won’t be for everyone. Every child is different, after all. But it works for my daughter, and it might work for your child, too.</p>

<p>If you’re looking to give it a try, I recommend going to the PragerU channel and searching for videos in the <a href="https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLIBtb_NuIJ1w9rrlXRueM3opfoV0rUenS">Religion/Philosophy playlist</a>.</p>

<aside class="footnotes">
<hr>
<ol>
	<li id="fn:1">Let me leave you with a warning. Not all of the PragerU videos are appropriate for a young audience. For example, my seven-year-old still hasn’t watched the video on adultery in The Ten Commandments series.<a class="reversefootnote" href="#fnref:1">&nbsp;↩</a></li>
	<li id="fn:2">I don’t necessarily agree with the content of <em>every</em> video.<a class="reversefootnote" href="#fnref:2">&nbsp;↩</a></li>
</ol>
</aside>
</div>

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title: A Simple Way to Read More of the Bible in the New Year
topic: Christian Living
author: Keith Plummer
date: 12/05/2018
source: https://www.str.org/w/a-simple-way-to-read-more-of-the-bible-in-the-new-year
content:
            <div> 
		<p>The end of another year is at hand, which means that lists will be circulating among Christians offering a selection of plans for reading through the Bible in the new year. For several years I’ve used some kind of plan to guide my Bible reading. While many of them are designed to take you through the Bible over the course of a year, that’s not my aim. In fact, I can’t tell you the last year in which I completed the canon in 52 weeks, and I’m not stressing about it. I use a plan because I know that, left to myself, there are certain portions of the Scriptures that I’m prone to neglect (sorry, Nahum!). Having a scheduled system guards me against taking a “Where shall I read today?”&nbsp;approach and ensures that, over whatever length of time it takes, I will have engaged the entirety of God’s inspired words. I also like that reading the Bible this way encourages me to regularly read larger portions of Scripture, which is essential to reading contextually. If you’re not using some kind of guide for your Bible reading, I encourage you to seriously consider it.</p>

<p>I’d like to share another way of increasing the quantity of your biblical intake in the new year. It’s a practice I’ve recently committed to and that I intend to continue. But before I tell you what it is, I want to emphasize that I’m offering this as a supplement to, not a substitute for, the kind of Bible reading I described in the previous paragraph. So, with that out of the way, I’ll tell you what got me thinking about this new habit.</p>

<p>I read a lot of Christian books whose authors, not surprisingly, frequently quote extended portions of Scripture in support of an argument or point they’re making. I realized that on many occasions, when I came across a block quotation of Scripture, I’d read the first few words or sentences, and if I concluded that the passage was familiar to me, I’d skip the rest of the quotation to hurriedly get back to the more novel material the author had to offer. The realization disturbed me because this pattern revealed an attitude toward the Scriptures that I don’t want to have, namely, treating them as common or sometimes even boring. I don’t want to be more eager to read what someone has to say <em>about</em> the Scriptures than to read the Scriptures themselves. Neither do I want to fall prey to the erroneous notion that progressing in the Christian life is a matter of always learning something new. That just doesn’t square with all the Bible has to say about rehearsing and remembering what is already known. The apostle Peter, for example, unashamedly exhorted believers in things he said they already knew: “Therefore I intend always to remind you of these qualities, though you know them and are established in the truth that you have”&nbsp;(2 Peter 1:12, ESV).</p>

<p>So, as a countermeasure, I’ve committed to not skipping over extended biblical quotations in my reading, regardless of how well I might know them. That’s it. I’m not thinking of it as a resolution or a conscience-binding requirement. It’s just a habit I’m asking the Lord to help me foster because I believe it would be profitable for me. Taking time to read larger portions of Scripture as they are cited in other texts is a small but potentially effective way to take in and meditate on even more of God’s word in the year ahead.</p>
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title: How IVF Is Changing Our View of Human Beings
topic: Bioethics
author: Amy K. Hall
date: 12/19/2018
source: https://www.str.org/w/how-ivf-is-changing-our-view-of-human-beings
content:
            <div> 
		<p>As a follow-up to <a href="/w/the-black-box-of-ivf">Alan’s post</a> on in vitro fertilization (IVF) yesterday, here’s a <a href="https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-6350193/Actress-37-New-York-appeals-offers-trade-female-embryo-male-one.html">news story</a> that demonstrates how the common, accepted practices employed in IVF (e.g., creating many human children, choosing a few, <a href="/w/the-tragic-consequences-of-the-ivf-industry">freezing, destroying, or experimenting on</a> the rest—and/or “<a href="/w/more-than-just-a-reduction-">selectively reducing</a>,”&nbsp;i.e., killing, some of the developing babies if too many embryos implant) are shaping the way we view human beings:</p>

<blockquote>
<p>An actress from Brooklyn has appealed to other women to trade embryos with her because she was wants a son....</p>

<p>She is desperate to have another son and wants [to] trade her one female embryo—the last embryo she has remaining after multiple rounds of IVF—for the male embryo of a stranger.</p>
</blockquote>

<p>The woman’s post on social media read,</p>

<blockquote>
<p>We want to complete our family with a son. We have a great quality female embryo, hatching! Would like to consider a trade? Donor egg: Italian; sperm: English Irish Yale educated.</p>
</blockquote>

<p>This woman is willing to trade <em>her very own daughter</em> for a different child—like she’s an unwanted baseball card.</p>

<blockquote>
<p>‘My husband grew up with sisters and wants a boy too. This is the way we want to complete our family.’</p>

<p>Lisa has swapped emails with the woman who, like her, is storing a frozen embryo at a fertility center, and they may proceed if the woman’s husband gives the go-ahead.</p>

<p>‘She already has a toddler, and she has two male embryos left over,’&nbsp;said Lisa.</p>
</blockquote>

<p>“She has two male embryos left over.”&nbsp;Listen to that language. It’s standard now, and <a href="/w/the-tragic-consequences-of-the-ivf-industry">it’s horrifying</a>. Think of all the meaning contained in those words, “left over.”&nbsp;These words do not recognize individual human beings. The “male embryos”&nbsp;are merely possible products in a catalogue that will either sit on a shelf indefinitely or be destroyed to make room for more merchandise if no one decides to purchase them. Can we engage in this behavior and language as a society and not be affected by it?</p>

<p>This view of human beings as commodities we can pick and choose—commodities with an instrumental value that varies according to our preferences (rather than awe-inspiring gifts with unchanging intrinsic value)—won’t remain confined to embryonic human beings. Instrumental views of one kind of human being have a way of bleeding over into our views of others. Newborns? The elderly? If they’re not meeting our discerning taste as consumers, then surely we should not be saddled with them. After all, they may not fit into our plans for an ideal family.</p>

<p>There is no sense here that this woman is talking about her <em>child</em>.</p>

<blockquote>
<p>In May this year, the couple went through another round of IVF at New Hope and froze a female embryo.</p>

<p>‘I was surprised and sad [it was a girl]’, Lisa recalled.</p>

<p>They switched to a clinic upstate and tried again in September at a cost of $12,000, but the egg retrieval yielded no viable candidates.</p>

<p>By then, they had shelled out more than $45,000 on fertility services.</p>

<p>Lisa and Ray subsequently decided to offer their frozen female embryo, currently in a storage facility for which they pay $1,000 a year, to someone with a male embryo.</p>

<p>‘I made up my mind as a reaction to losing the $12,000. Now I have a commodity, something I can leverage,’&nbsp;said Lisa.</p>
</blockquote>

<p>And there it is. Her <em>child</em>—her <em>daughter</em>—is merely a “commodity”&nbsp;she can “leverage”&nbsp;to get the boy child she wishes to purchase. After all, she paid a lot of money to get what she wanted. She didn’t receive the product she desired, so now she wants to exchange it to get the right one.</p>

<p>I used to recommend ethical guidelines for using IVF—don’t create more embryos than you’re willing to give birth to, and don’t transfer more embryos than you’re willing to carry to term—but I no longer think this is adequate. First, doctors will push these guidelines. Their interest is in having a clinic that successfully creates pregnancies and births; their interest is not in the “leftover”&nbsp;embryos that were created merely to give them a better chance of achieving their goal. Once you put yourself in a position where so much money and so many hopes are on the line, the temptation to be swayed away from your guidelines could very well be too great.</p>

<p>Second, you can’t guarantee you really will birth the children you froze for later use. Life is unpredictable. Marriages end. People get cancer or die unexpectedly. New responsibilities can suddenly crowd out your previous plans to have more children. You might mean to get back to it someday, but time passes, and then it’s too late. Now what? What happens to your children? Do you <a href="https://www.embryoadoption.org/">adopt them out</a>? Keep them frozen forever? Let them die? Once you start down this path, you can easily get to a point where whatever option you choose will be at least painful, if not immoral.</p>

<p>But the third reason is possibly the most dangerous. This industry is shaping our entire culture’s view of what is acceptable treatment of human beings. It’s training us to think of children as commodities. It’s freezing and destroying children on a massive scale. Even if, against the odds, <em>you</em> manage to use IVF responsibly, do you want to be part of this industry—contributing to it with your money and making IVF even more commonplace so that more and more people use it <em>irresponsibly</em>? These questions need to be carefully considered before you use IVF.</p>

<p>I can’t imagine experiencing the pain of infertility. It’s difficult enough being <a href="/w/a-note-to-the-unmarried-and-childless">single and childless</a>. To be married and unable to create a family must be horribly painful. I’m sure many of you have children today because of IVF, and that is certainly a blessing. I know that some of you also have regrets resulting from IVF—your doctor created more embryonic children than you could ever carry, or he convinced you to “reduce”&nbsp;the multiple children you were carrying down to two. I know this because I hear from you. Please know that I am weeping with you and praying you will be comforted and healed by God’s grace in Jesus.</p>

<p>For those of you who are considering IVF, please remember that childlessness is not the only kind of pain. I implore you to not merely exchange the immediate pain of childlessness for a different kind of pain that IVF may bring you. Sometimes our lives don’t end up the way we pictured them, and that’s hard, I know. But I also know that God is faithful. As Paul said in <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=phil+4%3A10-13&amp;version=NASB">Philippians 4:10–13</a>, whatever situation life brings us—expected or unexpected, wanted or unwanted—we can do all things through Him who strengthens us. Begin by trusting in that truth, and then you’ll be able to think clearly and carefully through the moral implications of your options without being driven by desperation or emotional pain.</p>
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title: A Gospel Reading Plan for December
topic: Christian Living
author: Amy K. Hall
date: 11/28/2018
source: https://www.str.org/w/a-gospel-reading-plan-for-december
content:
            <div> 
		<p>We’ve passed Thanksgiving now, and we’re barreling towards Christmas. Have you made any specific plans yet on how you’re going to focus on Christ during this season?</p>

<p>I have an idea for you.</p>

<p>I came across an encouraging and motivating infographic from Crossway on how long it takes to read each book, each section, each testament of the Bible; and from my experience, I think it’s pretty accurate. <a href="https://www.crossway.org/articles/infographic-you-can-read-more-of-the-bible-than-you-think/">Take a look</a>.</p>

<p>One of the handy charts there breaks down how many minutes a day you would need to read the Bible (or a particular portion of the Bible) in order to finish in one week, one month, three months, etc. It turns out you can read the Gospels and Acts in only 10 hours and 14 minutes. That works out to 20 minutes a day over one month. That’s all!</p>

<p>Why not commit to 20 minutes a day and read through the Gospels and Acts in December—or cut it down to 15 minutes and read just the Gospels? Surely every one of you can spare 15 minutes, and I can’t think of a better way to use that time.</p>

<p>And while we’re on the subject, why not <a href="https://www.crossway.org/articles/infographic-you-can-read-more-of-the-bible-than-you-think/">make some plans</a> for next year, as well?</p>

<blockquote>
<p>In just 12 minutes per day, you could read the whole Bible in a year. Does that still feel a bit ambitious? In just 6 minutes per day, you could read the entire New Testament over the course of 6 months. Whatever your pace, the point is to make daily Bible reading a habit. You’ll be surprised by how much you can read over the course of a relatively short period of time!</p>
</blockquote>

<p>For more motivation to seriously commit to reading your Bible, see <a href="/w/a-long-term-plan-to-know-your-bible">here</a>.</p>
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title: Why Studying Apologetics Will Help You Suffer Well
topic: Christian Living
author: Amy K. Hall
date: 11/21/2018
source: https://www.str.org/w/why-studying-apologetics-will-help-you-suffer-well
content:
            <div> 
		<p>In philosopher Douglas Groothuis’s book <em><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Walking-Through-Twilight-Illness-Philosophers/dp/0830845186/ref=sr_1_1_twi_pap_2?ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1542818009&amp;sr=8-1&amp;keywords=walking+through+twilight">Walking through Twilight</a></em>, a memoir of his struggles through the descent of his wife into primary progressive aphasia (dementia), he reflects on the story in <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=john+6%3A41-69&amp;version=NASB">John 6:41-69</a> where Jesus claims to be “the living bread that came down out of heaven”&nbsp;and “if anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever.”&nbsp;Many of Jesus’&nbsp;disciples walk away at this point, saying, “This is a difficult statement; who can listen to it?”&nbsp;But not Peter.</p>

<blockquote>
<p>There is no evidence that Peter quite understood this “hard saying.”&nbsp;Perhaps he did. But despite the departure of “many of his disciples,”&nbsp;Peter remained. He had to stay because he knew Jesus, who had shown himself to be true and reliable. Peter accompanied Jesus and beheld his teachings, his miracles, and his loving and just character. Where else could Peter go? This, of course, was Peter at his best. He is known for some wide faith fluctuations, at least before Pentecost. But his testimony tells us this: <em>we can live wisely within ignorance if it is bracketed by knowledge</em>. [Emphasis added.]</p>
</blockquote>

<p>Groothuis compares this to the temptation we face when we suffer - the temptation to walk away from Jesus in anger. But, like Peter, when we know that Jesus is truly the way, and the truth, and the life, when we’re confident that Christianity is a description of <em>reality</em>, we will remain as Peter did.</p>

<blockquote>
<p>If we are tempted to look elsewhere for meaning and hope in this suffering, we must return to the earnest confession of Peter: “Where else can we go?”&nbsp;Like Peter, I know too much to go back. I cannot become an atheist, a Buddhist, a Hindu, a new ager, a Muslim, a misotheist, or even an agnostic. I know too much to go back. As the simple gospel song says, “I have decided to follow Jesus. No turning back. No turning back.”</p>
</blockquote>

<p>We study apologetics for many reasons - to see God more clearly, to aid in evangelism, to address doubts, to equip ourselves to answer to our friends’&nbsp;questions, because we enjoy the intellectual challenges, etc. But here is a reason that strikes right to the heart of life: We study apologetics because suffering <em>will</em> find us in this life - painful suffering we can’t understand, suffering for which we can discover no reason, suffering that could make a person doubt God’s love or even His existence.</p>

<p>This is when our feelings will deceive us. Unanswerable questions will tempt us toward doubt and anger, and we, like many of Jesus’&nbsp;disciples, will be tempted to walk away. But if we have been fully convinced, beyond mere feeling, of the truth of Jesus and His work, if we can solidly stand with Peter and say, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have words of eternal life. We have believed and have come to know that You are the Holy One of God,”&nbsp;then the inevitable uncertainties and difficulties of life will not overcome us. “We can live wisely within ignorance if it is bracketed by knowledge.”</p>
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title: Why Apologetics?
topic: Christian Living
author: Tim Barnett
date: 12/26/2018
source: https://www.str.org/w/why-apologetics-
content:
            <div> 
		<p>Why do we invest so much time, energy, and resources into an apologetics ministry? Why is apologetics so important?</p>

<p>For those unfamiliar with apologetics, it might be helpful to define <em>what</em> apologetics is before looking at <em>why</em> it’s important. Simply put, Christian apologetics is giving a reason or defense for the Christian faith.</p>

<p>There are two sub-disciplines of Christian apologetics: <em>positive</em> apologetics and <em>negative</em> apologetics. Positive apologetics involves giving an argument <em>for</em> Christianity. For example, giving arguments for God’s existence or the reliability of the Bible. Negative apologetics involves answering objections <em>against</em> Christianity. For example, answering the problem of evil.</p>

<p>When people ask me why we should engage in Christian apologetics, I have <em>four</em> broad responses - an approach I learned from Dr. Norman Geisler at Southern Evangelical Seminary.</p>

<p>First, the Bible commands it.</p>

<p>Apologetics is not optional. <em>Every</em> follower of Christ is instructed to be an apologist. Let me give you a few verses to back this up. Probably the most often cited passage comes from the apostle Peter. He writes,</p>

<blockquote>
<p>[I]n your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to <em>make a defense</em> to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect. (1 Peter 3:15)</p>
</blockquote>

<p>The apostle Paul says the same thing in a different way. He writes,</p>

<blockquote>
<p>Walk in wisdom toward outsiders, making the best use of the time. Let your speech always be gracious, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how you ought <em>to answer each person</em>. (Colossians 4:5-6)</p>
</blockquote>

<p>In my favourite passage on the subject, Paul says,</p>

<blockquote>
<p>For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but have divine power to destroy strongholds. <em>We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ</em>. (2 Corinthians 10:4-5).</p>
</blockquote>

<p>Paul also tells the church in Philippi that they are all partakers with him of grace, both in his imprisonment “and <em>in the defense</em> and confirmation of the gospel”&nbsp;(Philippians 1:7). Similarly, Jude says it was “necessary for him to write appealing to [his readers] to <em>contend for the faith</em> that was once for all delivered to the saints”&nbsp;(Jude 3).</p>

<p>The Bible is clear. Yet, if you walked into most churches and asked what they teach on apologetics, they would probably look at you like you had three heads. This is because apologetics is treated as if it’s an extra at best or an error at worst. Whether it’s apathy or animosity towards apologetics, both are often fueled by anti-intellectualism.</p>

<p>As we’ve seen, God commands apologetics. Therefore, those who refuse to “make a defense”&nbsp;or “answer each person”&nbsp;are disobeying God’s command.</p>

<p>So, why do apologetics? Well, the Bible commands it. And that alone should be reason enough. But that’s not the <em>only</em> reason why we do apologetics.</p>

<p>Second, the culture demands it.</p>

<p>The late philosopher and theologian Francis Schaeffer referred to apologetics as <em>pre-evangelism</em>. This is the idea that God uses well-reasoned answers and arguments as a springboard to the gospel of Jesus Christ. In his book <em>Mere Apologetics</em>, Oxford theologian Alister McGrath says, “Apologetics lays the ground for the invitation; evangelism extends it.”</p>

<p>For example, it makes no sense to talk about the <em>Son of God</em> - who communicates the <em>word of God</em>, and performs <em>acts of God</em>, and brings the <em>salvation of God</em> - unless there is a God. Apologetics lays the groundwork for belief in God through arguments and evidence.</p>

<p>In addition, the culture is deeply saturated in three dominant philosophies: relativism, pluralism, and naturalism. Relativism says there is no absolute truth. Religious pluralism says there is no exclusive truth in religion (all views are equally true). Naturalism says there is no supernatural truth.</p>

<p>Do you see a problem in doing evangelism in this cultural climate? We are presenting an <em>absolute</em> truth to a relativistic culture, an <em>exclusivist</em> message to a pluralistic culture, and a <em>supernatural</em> view to a naturalistic culture. It is no surprise that Christians are confronted with questions like, <em>How can Jesus be the only way? Has science proven that miracles are impossible?</em> and <em>Who are you to force your morality on me?</em> These questions grow out of the soil of a secular worldview. Apologetics responds to these questions at the worldview level.</p>

<p>Not only does the Bible command apologetics, but the culture also demands it.</p>

<p>Third, the church needs it.</p>

<p>This fact cannot be overstated. We just looked at how apologetics is <em>pre</em>-evangelism to the culture. However, apologetics is also <em>post</em>-evangelism to the church. The challenges to faith don’t evaporate once you become a Christian. In fact, they intensify. This is where apologetics comes in.</p>

<p>Arguably, the most important generation of the church is the next generation. Yet, all the research we have shows that approximately three in five young people disconnect from their church by the age of 15.</p>

<p>This isn’t a new phenomenon. In Judges 2:10, after Israel finally enters the Promised Land and Joshua dies, we read, “And all that generation also were gathered to their fathers. And there arose another generation after them <em>who did not know the Lord or the work that he had done for Israel</em>.”&nbsp;It took <em>one</em> generation to abandon God and turn to idols.</p>

<p>How do we help curb the next generation’s drift away from God? The answer is - yes, you guessed it - apologetics.</p>

<p>Lest you think this is merely the biased opinion of a professional apologist, consider the research of David Kinnaman - the president of Barna Research. In 2012, <em>Christianity Today</em> summarized Kinnaman’s findings into six reasons why young people leave the church. What’s interesting about the list is that <a href="https://www.str.org/blog/how-apologetics-can-address-six-reasons-why-young-people-leave-church#.XBquw_ZKhBw">each of the six reasons relates - in some degree - to apologetics</a>. If the church would begin to take the life of the mind more seriously and equip its young people to understand and defend their faith, we could meet these challenges head on.</p>

<p>The church desperately needs apologetics because it helps to provide real responses to the reasons people leave the faith.</p>

<p>Fourth, the results confirm it.</p>

<p>Apologetics works. That is, we have evidence of people coming to a knowledge of the truth through apologetics.</p>

<p>For instance, there are multiple occasions in Scripture where the disciples model using reason and evidence, <em>and</em> people are persuaded as a result.</p>

<p>Acts 17 says Paul employed apologetics in Thessalonica. It reads,</p>

<blockquote>
<p>Now when they had travelled through Amphipolis and Apollonia, they came to Thessalonica, where there was a synagogue of the Jews. And according to Paul’s custom, he went to them, and for three Sabbaths <em>reasoned with them from the Scriptures</em>, <em>explaining and giving evidence</em> that the Christ had to suffer and rise again from the dead, and <em>saying</em>, “This Jesus whom I am proclaiming to you is the Christ.”&nbsp;And <em>some of them were persuaded</em> and joined Paul and Silas, along with a large number of the God-fearing Greeks and a number of the leading women. (Acts 17:1-4, NASB)</p>
</blockquote>

<p>It was Paul’s custom - his routine - to <em>reason</em> with the people he spoke to. And as he reasoned from the Scriptures, he would appeal to <em>evidence</em> to make his case. Paul was doing apologetics. As a result, people were <em>persuaded</em> and followed Christ.</p>

<p>There are also many <em>contemporary</em> stories of people coming to know and trust God through apologetics. These include C. S. Lewis, Lee Strobel, J. Warner Wallace, Nabeel Qureshi, Abdu Murray, and many others.</p>

<p>Why apologetics? Well, the Bible commands it, the culture demands it, the Church needs it, and the results confirm it. Taken individually, each reason should motivate us to engage in apologetics. However, taken all together, these provide a powerful apologetic for apologetics.</p>
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title: Scientism: An Obstacle to the Gospel
topic: Other Worldviews
author: Alan Shlemon
date: 11/20/2018
source: https://www.str.org/w/scientism-an-obstacle-to-the-gospel
content:
            <div> 
		<p>What is the most fundamental issue facing the church today? It’s not Islam. It’s not sexual ethics. It’s not even truth. It’s knowledge. Can we <em>know</em> that Christianity is true?</p>

<p>This was the central thesis of a <a href="http://www.wordmp3.com/details.aspx?id=34323" target="_blank">paper</a> delivered by <a href="http://www.jpmoreland.com/" target="_blank">J.P. Moreland</a> last week at the <a href="http://www.epsociety.org/" target="_blank">Evangelical Philosophical Society’s</a> annual meeting in Denver. He said that scientism is largely responsible for the shift in society’s belief about what we can know. Scientism claims that the only way to know reality is through the five senses. If you can’t touch it, taste it, see it, hear it, or smell it, then you can’t know it. That means the only things we can learn about are in the fields of the hard sciences (e.g. physics, chemistry, etc.). You can’t have knowledge in other fields like religion or ethics. Therefore, it has become more difficult to present the gospel as reasonable, knowable, and true.</p>

<p>Scientism, though, is problematic for at least three reasons.</p>

<ul>
	<li>It’s self-refuting. If the only things we can know are testable with the five senses, then how can we know “scientism is true”&nbsp;when the statement itself can’t be tested with the five senses to see if it’s true?</li>
	<li>Scientism can’t justify the presuppositions of science because they can only be stated philosophically, which scientism is incapable of testing. This is why science has always been at home within the Christian worldview, which includes other ways of knowing and, therefore, can justify the presuppositions of science.</li>
	<li>Scientism fails to recognize that knowledge can be discovered through means other than science, and, in some cases, the knowledge we gain through these other means <a href="/w/science-as-god" target="_blank">can lead to more certainty</a>.</li>
</ul>

<p>I’m just offering a quick overview of the paper. If you want to know more, J.P. Moreland has a new book on the subject, <em><a href="https://store.str.org/ProductDetails.asp?ProductCode=BK453" target="_blank">Scientism and Secularism: Learning to Respond to a Dangerous Ideology</a></em>. You can also listen to Greg Koukl interview Moreland in a <a href="/w/interview-j.p.-moreland-scientism-and-secularism" target="_blank">recent STR podcast</a>.</p>
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title: Faithful Disobedience
topic: Christian Living
author: Alan Shlemon
date: 12/20/2018
source: https://www.str.org/w/faithful-disobedience
content:
            <div> 
		<p>The pastor of Early Rain Covenant Church in Chengdu, China was recently arrested on allegations of “inciting subversion of state power.”&nbsp;Anticipating his arrest, Wang Yi drafted a letter to be released should he be detained for more than 48 hours. Unfortunately, his prediction came true, and he was arrested. Fortunately, his letter was released. I say it was fortunate because it was incredibly encouraging to my soul to read (and, I suspect, for many other believers who read it).</p>

<p>I’m honored to have a brother in Christ like Pastor Yi, who has the courage to stand up for his Christian convictions in light of a government that opposes Christianity. He <a href="https://world.wng.org/2018/12/my_declaration_of_faithful_disobedience">writes</a>:</p>

<blockquote>
<p>Precisely because none of my words and actions are directed toward seeking and hoping for societal and political transformation, I have no fear of any social or political power. For the Bible teaches us that God establishes governmental authorities in order to terrorize evildoers, not to terrorize doers of good. If believers in Jesus do no wrong then they should not be afraid of dark powers. Even though I am often weak, I firmly believe this is the promise of the gospel. It is what I’ve devoted all of my energy to. It is the good news that I am spreading throughout Chinese society.</p>

<p>I also understand that this happens to be the very reason why the Communist regime is filled with fear at a church that is no longer afraid of it.</p>

<p>If I am imprisoned for a long or short period of time, if I can help reduce the authorities’&nbsp;fear of my faith and of my Savior, I am very joyfully willing to help them in this way. But I know that only when I renounce all the wickedness of this persecution against the church and use peaceful means to disobey, will I truly be able to help the souls of the authorities and law enforcement. I hope God uses me, by means of first losing my personal freedom, to tell those who have deprived me of my personal freedom that there is an authority higher than their authority, and that there is a freedom that they cannot restrain, a freedom that fills the church of the crucified and risen Jesus Christ.</p>

<p>Regardless of what crime the government charges me with, whatever filth they fling at me, as long as this charge is related to my faith, my writings, my comments, and my teachings, it is merely a lie and temptation of demons. I categorically deny it. I will serve my sentence, but I will not serve the law. I will be executed, but I will not plead guilty.</p>
</blockquote>

<p>This is a man who has the big picture - an eternal perspective - in mind. His mission is clear: to proclaim the gospel. No matter the <a href="https://www.str.org/articles/prosperity-or-persecution" target="_blank">circumstances that surround him</a>, he is fixated on his goal. Like the apostle Paul, Pastor Yi is also concerned about the spiritual health of his captors. He continues:</p>

<blockquote>
<p>Those who lock me up will one day be locked up by angels. Those who interrogate me will finally be questioned and judged by Christ. When I think of this, the Lord fills me with a natural compassion and grief toward those who are attempting to and actively imprisoning me. Pray that the Lord would use me, that he would grant me patience and wisdom, that I might take the gospel to them.</p>

<p>Separate me from my wife and children, ruin my reputation, destroy my life and my family - the authorities are capable of doing all of these things. However, no one in this world can force me to renounce my faith; no one can make me change my life; and no one can raise me from the dead.</p>

<p>And so, respectable officers, stop committing evil. This is not for my benefit but rather for yours and your children’s. I plead earnestly with you to stay your hands, for why should you be willing to pay the price of eternal damnation in hell for the sake of a lowly sinner such as I?</p>

<p>Jesus is the Christ, son of the eternal, living God. He died for sinners and rose to life for us. He is my king and the king of the whole earth yesterday, today, and forever. I am his servant, and I am imprisoned because of this. I will resist in meekness those who resist God, and I will joyfully violate all laws that violate God’s laws.</p>
</blockquote>

<p>I encourage you to read the entirety of this <a href="https://world.wng.org/2018/12/my_declaration_of_faithful_disobedience">letter</a>. It’s a sober reminder of the forces that are against us. Despite the fact that we live in a culture that is hostile to the gospel, it’s definitely not as severe as it is in China. Should our government ever get to where China’s is, I pray that I - and believers everywhere - would be as courageous as Pastor Yi to stand for the truth.</p>
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title: The Christian Story Is No Pagan Story
topic: Theology
author: Alan Shlemon
date: 12/04/2018
source: https://www.str.org/w/the-christian-story-is-no-pagan-story
content:
            <div> 
		<p>Critics of Christianity sometimes allege that our faith is similar to a pagan system since both require a sacrifice. My pastor, who was recently teaching on the topic of blood sacrifice, mentioned the startling example of <a href="https://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2013/07/130729-inca-mummy-maiden-sacrifice-coca-alcohol-drug-mountain-andes-children/">Llullaillaco Maiden</a>, a mummy discovered in 1999. What is remarkable about this mummy is how well she is preserved. She looks like a girl. Her hair, face, and skin are intact. This is, in part, due to the frigid temperatures in the Argentinian mountains where she was found.</p>

<p>After forensic and archaeological investigation was completed, it was determined that this 13-year-old girl was selected by the Inca religious community, drugged, and eventually sacrificed. According to Inca ideology, the purpose of this ritual was to placate their gods.</p>

<p>Isn’t this the same thing as the sacrifice of Jesus to appease the Christian God? In short, no. There are (at least) three significant differences. First, in the pagan ritual, a person was selected against their will, drugged, and then killed. Jesus, on the other hand, was a willing sacrifice who - on His own initiative - went to the cross.</p>

<p>Second, the pagan sacrifice entails a human offering, requiring a mere mortal to die for a god. In Christianity, however, it is God who offers himself to die on behalf of mere mortals.</p>

<p>Third, the pagan ritual is a work done by man in order to approach or reach up to God. Christianity teaches the opposite: a work done by God in order to save mankind.</p>

<p>The Advent season turns out to be a perfect time to reflect on this amazing reality. It is God Himself who does not leave us in ruin but takes on the nature of man to live and die for us. It is no wonder He is called Immanuel - God with us.</p>
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title: Self-Evident Truths
topic: Philosophy
author: Greg Koukl
date: 11/15/2018
source: https://www.str.org/w/self-evident-truths
content:
            <div> 
		<p>I’m convinced many things foundational to a Christian worldview are things people already believe without having to be persuaded.</p>

<p>Most believe, for example, the universe has been designed by a person (Gen. 1:1). They may not admit it outright, but constant references to “Mother Nature”&nbsp;betray their deeper convictions. They believe humans are special, valuable in a transcendent way (Gen. 1:27). That’s why it’s okay to gas termites, but not Jews. They are also convinced that something has gone terribly wrong, that we are each morally twisted and worthy of punishment (Rom. 3:23). This surfaces as the problem of evil.</p>

<p>Each of these essential elements of Jesus’&nbsp;worldview is something everyone knows. But how? These things are known through a faculty called intuition.</p>

<p>When I say <em>intuition,</em> I mean something very particular. I don’t mean a hunch. I don’t mean a line of reasoning to a conclusion or a skill learned over time - like the way a seasoned batter “senses”&nbsp;where the next pitch will come.</p>

<p>In fact, intuitions are not learned at all. They are something we’re born with, information built into our minds by a wise Creator. Our founding fathers called them “self-evident”&nbsp;truths.</p>

<p>Philosopher J.P. Moreland has pointed out that if you can’t know some things without knowing why you know them - if you don’t have some things in place to begin with - you can’t know anything at all. You can’t even begin the task of discovery. Aristotle observed that some things couldn’t be proved in the usual sense of the term, but without them nothing could be proved at all.</p>

<p>A few weeks ago during a Q&amp;A session after a lecture I gave at a liberal college, I asked a student if he knew what he was thinking just then. Of course he did. But <em>how</em> did he know? Did he need a scientist’s report on the physical states of his brain to know his own thoughts? Of course not. He had immediate and direct access to his own mind. Such things we take for granted. Even to raise the question seems foolish.</p>

<p>Knowledge by intuition is like that. It is immediate, direct, and obvious. And because our intuitive awareness gives us reliable truth about our world, it can be a powerful ally in evangelism, if we know how to use it.</p>

<p>During a “Science and Faith”&nbsp;conference some years ago, I was asked to prove there was purpose in the universe. I answered that purpose isn’t something we need to argue for; it’s something we already know intuitively. To make someone aware of it, <em>ask a question that causes the intuition to rise to the surface.</em></p>

<p>For example, ask if a person would ever try to talk someone out of suicide. If so, why? I suspect he’d say suicide is a waste of a valuable life. But how can a life be wasted if it has no ultimate purpose?</p>

<p>Has he ever bemoaned the tragic death of a promising high school student? Or a child taken by disease or natural disaster? Or Princess Diana who perished in the prime of life? All of these seem “untimely”&nbsp;deaths, deaths before their time. Yet a life without purpose has no appointed end.</p>

<p>Our reactions to examples like these are spontaneous, immediate, and intuitive. Deep down inside we know that each person’s life is meant for something, a goal that these catastrophes interrupted. But what is ultimately tragic about any death if life has no intrinsic purpose? Our response to these things demonstrates we actually agree with Scripture that people have purpose beyond their temporal existence (Eccl. 3:11).</p>

<p>At this point there is an important question you must ask: <em>What view of the world makes sense out of the idea that human beings have purpose? Or that the universe was designed by a person? Or that humans are valuable, but broken, in need of forgiveness and redemption?</em></p>

<p>Do you see what I’ve done? I start with a common experience then ask questions to get people in touch with their own intuitive knowledge about it. Then I ask them to make sense out of it. As a Christian, I don’t have to wonder. My worldview explains it. The truths of Christianity resonate with our deepest intuitions about the way the world actually is.</p>

<p>I call this tactic “Back of the Book.”&nbsp;I know things about what other people know, even if they are not immediately aware of them. I know their secrets, in a sense, because God has revealed them. I’ve read the back of the book. I know the story’s end.</p>

<p>C.S. Lewis used this knowledge masterfully. The opening chapters of his classic, <em>Mere Christianity</em>, are devoted to unpacking our intuitive awareness of morality. Later in <em>The Abolition of Man</em>, Lewis documents some of the content of this universal knowledge evident in every culture: proscriptions on murder, theft, rape, adultery; praise for heroism, altruism, self-denial, honesty.</p>

<p>In his book <a href="https://www.amazon.com/10-Most-Common-Objections-Christianity/dp/0830742980/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&amp;ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1541907621&amp;sr=1-1&amp;keywords=9780830742981&amp;dpID=31I5rOKV8%252BL&amp;preST=_SY291_BO1,204,203,200_QL40_&amp;dpSrc=srch"><em>The 10 Most Common Objections to Christianity</em></a>, Alex McFarland observes:</p>

<blockquote>
<p>Lewis’s study (and others by Christian apologists and sociologists) proves that different people groups and cultures, though having no contact with each other, nevertheless had similar moral codes and ethical structures by which they lived. That’s not to say that humans always <em>do</em> what is morally right; Lewis and others assert that all cultures, <em>intuitively know what is right</em>. [Emphasis added.]</p>
</blockquote>

<p>Let me give you a dramatic example of how I capitalize on this in a university setting. When I lectured on moral relativism to a standing-room-only audience at Berkeley, I told the students I knew something about them that they knew about themselves but didn’t know I knew: They each had a bad self image. How did I know that? Because <em>everybody</em> has a bad self image, even me.</p>

<p>In our most honest moments, I said, we look down inside ourselves and see something twisted and ugly, a moral brokenness we cannot deny. In fact, we have a strong feeling associated with this problem, and that feeling has a name. “What is it?”&nbsp;I asked.</p>

<p>The audience gave me the same answer I always get in those situations: The feeling is called <em>guilt</em>. Then I asked why they each feel guilty. “Maybe it’s a social construction,”&nbsp;I offered, “or a power move by culture. I guess that might be the answer. But there’s another possibility,”&nbsp;I said. “Maybe you <em>feel</em> guilty...because you <em>are</em> guilty. Is that in the running? Does that answer resonate with you?”</p>

<p>I have asked this question countless times on campus. No one has ever stopped me afterwards and said I was wrong, that guilt isn’t real for them. They could not. They knew better - which made my closing statement all the more powerful. “The answer to guilt is not denial,”&nbsp;I said. “The answer to guilt is forgiveness. And this is where Jesus comes in.”</p>

<p>You see, even in the totally secularized environment of a quintessentially liberal university, the foundational truths of Christianity have the ring of truth to them.</p>

<p>Because His Book tells us true things about every human being - awareness of God’s existence, the sense of our own value, a knowledge of our own sin and guilt - we can appeal to those things. Even if a person denies they are true, you know he’s lying to himself. In his heart of hearts he agrees with you, and in unguarded moments his own lips affirm it.</p>

<p>You don’t have to convince him of these things. He knows them already. How does he know? He knows them through intuition.</p>

<p><em>[This article was adapted from an STR radio show commentary and was previously published in</em> Decision Magazine<em>.]</em></p>
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title: The Top Ten Posts of 2018
topic: Announcements
author: Amy K. Hall
date: 12/27/2018
source: https://www.str.org/w/the-top-ten-posts-of-2018
content:
            <div> 
		<p>Below, you’ll find a list of the top ten most-viewed posts from this year. Take a look, and see if you missed any of them the first time around.</p>

<p>What’s interesting about this year is that there was move away from more culturally controversial topics (sexuality, bioethics, etc.—topics that have tended to dominate the most-viewed lists in the past) and toward more theological and Christian-community-related apologetics topics. I’m not sure what this means (if anything) about trends among Christians, but perhaps it indicates that Christians are focusing in on defending the basics and building up the Church.</p>

<ol>
	<li><strong><a href="/w/verses-for-your-conversations-with-mormons">Verses for Your Conversations with Mormons</a></strong> – “As I was reviewing a very basic list of verses for conversations with Mormons that I compiled a while back, I thought you might find it useful, as well. It’s in no way comprehensive, but it could give you a good place to start, serving as a rough outline for your discussion.”</li>
	<li><strong><a href="/w/doing-church-biblically-can-be-messy">Doing Church Biblically Can Be Messy</a></strong> – “Biblical living is not about doing things the easy way. It <em>can</em> be easy, but many times it isn’t. Instead of choosing either of these easy routes, the pastor chose the biblical route, the more messy, difficult, and uncomfortable route. He chose to uphold biblical standards of sexuality <em>and</em> do his best to show love and compassion.”</li>
	<li><strong><a href="/w/our-verseless-bibles">Our Verseless Bibles</a></strong> – “Let me offer you a warning that will vastly improve your ability to understand Scripture, if you heed it. It’s an insight for every person who has ever asked, ’How does this verse apply to my life?’&nbsp;<em>Here it is: There are no verses in the Bible.</em> Nope. Not a one. At least, not in the original, and that’s the Bible that matters.”</li>
	<li><strong><a href="/w/who-is-the-god-of-mormonism-">Who Is the God of Mormonism?</a></strong> – “One thing you’ll discover as you’re talking with your Mormon (LDS) friends is that though we use the same terms, we often mean very different things. Mormons have different definitions of gospel, repentance, salvation, grace, Hell, and nearly every term you’ll be using in your conversation.... The term ’God’&nbsp;is no exception to this. In fact, it’s the most foundational difference between Christian and LDS theology.”</li>
	<li><strong><a href="/w/should-followers-of-christ-observe-the-torah-">Should Followers of Christ Observe the Torah?</a></strong> – "A great deal of the New Testament is devoted to the question of the Christian’s relationship to the Mosaic Law in the Torah, but if the questions I receive from people are any indication, there’s an increasing amount of confusion among Christians on this topic.”</li>
	<li><strong><a href="/w/how-apologetics-can-address-the-six-reasons-why-young-people-leave-the-church">How Apologetics Can Address the Six Reasons Why Young People Leave the Church</a></strong> – “If the church would begin to take the life of the mind more seriously and equip its young people to understand and defend their faith, we could meet these challenges head on.... Let me give you one or two practical resources to help address each of these challenges.”</li>
	<li><strong><a href="/w/blessed-are-those-who-have-not-seen-and-yet-believe">Blessed Are Those Who Have Not Seen and yet Believe</a></strong> – “We’re told that Thomas demanded evidence and the other disciples didn’t. Moreover, we should denounce the <em>reasonable</em> faith of the former and imitate the <em>blind</em> faith of the latter. After all, Jesus said, ’Have you believed because you have seen me? <em>Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed’</em>&nbsp;(Jn. 20:29). So, it is argued, the kind of faith endorsed by the Bible is baseless and unwarranted. Ironically, this text actually teaches the exact opposite of what Dawkins and others believe. This is fairly easy to demonstrate.”</li>
	<li><strong><a href="/w/if-we-lose-the-meaning-of-justice-we-lose-the-gospel">If We Lose the Meaning of “Justice,”&nbsp;We Lose the Gospel</a></strong> – “Our ability to explain the gospel to people in our culture depends on our culture’s ability to understand the concept of justice. Because of this, over the years I’ve become concerned about a drift in the meaning of the word ’justice’—even in Christian circles, among respected friends I usually agree with—as the term ’social justice’&nbsp;is increasingly embraced and used.”</li>
	<li><strong><a href="/w/a-long-term-plan-to-know-your-bible">A Long-Term Plan to Know Your Bible</a></strong> – “Years ago, I read St. Patrick’s <em>Confession</em> (written in the fifth century), and I was amazed and inspired by the way bits of Scripture just poured out of him in nearly every sentence. He clearly knew the Bible so well that it had become part of his language—part of <em>him</em>.... I’ve been working towards this kind of knowledge of the Bible ever since. Does this vision motivate you, as well? You won’t get there overnight, but if you’re willing to be patient and purposeful about a long-term plan, it’s not out of reach for you.”</li>
	<li><strong><a href="/w/a-parent-s-guide-to-the-5-skeptics-who-want-to-shame-your-kids-for-being-christian">A Parent’s Guide to the 5 Skeptics Who Want to Shame Your Kids for Being Christian</a></strong> – “Those who contact me typically wield the tool of <em>shaming</em> to make their point—something highly ironic given how much skeptics talk about the importance of evidence.... Kids need to understand these emotion-laden shaming attempts they’ll encounter. Like so much else, this is something parents can and should prepare them for. Here are the five most common skeptics who want to shame your kids for being Christian.”</li>
</ol>
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title: Christianity Is True to What Is There
topic: Christian Living
author: Amy K. Hall
date: 12/06/2018
source: https://www.str.org/w/christianity-is-true-to-what-is-there
content:
            <div> 
		<p>When a Christian runs into difficult intellectual arguments against Christianity, there are two paths that can be taken. First, one can take refuge in the dominant view of our culture that religious values and spiritual questions are “above the line”&nbsp;of rationality (as Francis Schaeffer put it)—beyond the reach of intellectual investigation, attacks, or proofs. Spiritual “truths”&nbsp;are not in the same category as material truths, this view says, so challenges are irrelevant and no work need be done to resolve them.</p>

<p>On the second path, one sees all of true reality as a single whole—spiritual and material—existing as it is, never as its opposite, and capable of being known (never exhaustively, yet truly) through observations, rational thought, and revelation. And since reality is a single material-spiritual whole, this means there is only one truth about what exists, whether material <em>or</em> spiritual—a truth outside of us that we need to seek out and discover. The Christian who believes this about reality and cares about truth (i.e., what actually exists) must face the difficult questions and work to find answers, for he’s not willing to place his trust in something that is not there, and he thinks it’s worth truly knowing what <em>is</em> there.</p>

<p>Can a Christian persevere through mockery, persecution, or a time of dry emotions and few experiences without the confidence that he is held up by a solid, true reality? Can he act consistently and deeply on a faith he doesn’t believe represents what actually exists? I don’t see how the “it’s-‘true’-if-you-believe-it”&nbsp;path can sustain the <a href="/w/we-need-confidence-to-endure">confidence needed</a> for sincere, enduring love, service, and sacrifice. On the other hand, I think the “one-reality”&nbsp;path leads to a spiritually deep, authentic, persevering church.</p>

<p>For this very reason, Schaeffer encourages believers to grasp the reality of Christianity in his book <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Francis-Schaeffer-Trilogy-Essential-Reason/dp/0891075615/sr=8-5/qid=1160637630/ref=sr_1_5/002-4657221-9946424?ie=UTF8&amp;s=books"><em>He is There and He is Not Silent</em></a>:</p>

<blockquote>
<p>The truth of Christianity is that it is true to what is there. You can go to the end of the world and you never need be afraid, like the ancients, that you will fall off the end and the dragons will eat you up. You can carry out your intellectual discussion to the end of the discussion because Christianity is not only true to the dogmas, it is not only true to what God has said in the Bible, but it is also true to what is there, and you will never fall off the end of the world! It is not just an approximate model; it is true to what is there. When the evangelical catches that—when evangelicalism catches that—we may have our revolution. We will begin to have something beautiful and alive, something which will have force in our poor, lost world.</p>
</blockquote>
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title: Be Prepared to Talk about Jesus This Season
topic: Christian Living
author: Greg Koukl
date: 12/10/2018
source: https://www.str.org/w/be-prepared-to-talk-about-jesus-this-season
content:
            <div> 
		<p>As Christmas approaches, we want you to be able to talk about Jesus with the people you care about when the opportunity arises. So we put together a group of helpful videos on topics that might come up during your holiday gatherings. No matter what conversations you have, remember: Christ is the true center of Christmas!</p>

<p>Jesus is God:</p>

<div class="embed-responsive embed-responsive-16by9" data-embed-id="6oZyhGiHa5s" data-styles="{&quot;width&quot;:&quot;100%&quot;}" style="width:100%"><iframe allow="encrypted-media" allowfullscreen="" class="embed-responsive-item" frameborder="0" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/6oZyhGiHa5s?rel=0" tabindex="0"></iframe></div>

<p>Jesus and other religions:</p>

<div class="embed-responsive embed-responsive-16by9" data-embed-id="OXjAcpgikUE" data-styles="{&quot;width&quot;:&quot;100%&quot;}" style="width:100%"><iframe allow="encrypted-media" allowfullscreen="" class="embed-responsive-item" frameborder="0" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/OXjAcpgikUE?rel=0" tabindex="0"></iframe></div>

<p>Jesus and pluralism:</p>

<div class="embed-responsive embed-responsive-16by9" data-embed-id="z_kyqdu5ODk" data-styles="{&quot;width&quot;:&quot;100%&quot;}" style="width:100%"><iframe allow="encrypted-media" allowfullscreen="" class="embed-responsive-item" frameborder="0" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/z_kyqdu5ODk?rel=0" tabindex="0"></iframe></div>

<p>Jesus and the Bible:</p>

<div class="embed-responsive embed-responsive-16by9" data-embed-id="ULc5xZMB8J0" data-styles="{&quot;width&quot;:&quot;100%&quot;}" style="width:100%"><iframe allow="encrypted-media" allowfullscreen="" class="embed-responsive-item" frameborder="0" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/ULc5xZMB8J0?rel=0" tabindex="0"></iframe></div>

<p>Jesus and homosexuality:</p>

<div class="embed-responsive embed-responsive-16by9" data-embed-id="8hF-u0Ng4ww" data-styles="{&quot;width&quot;:&quot;100%&quot;}" style="width:100%"><iframe allow="encrypted-media" allowfullscreen="" class="embed-responsive-item" frameborder="0" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/8hF-u0Ng4ww?rel=0" tabindex="0"></iframe></div>
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title: Why Your Student Needs to Attend the Next reTHINK Apologetics Student Conference
topic: Announcements
author: Tim Barnett
date: 11/14/2018
source:
https://www.str.org/w/why-your-student-needs-to-attend-the-next-rethink-apologetics-student-conference

content:
            <div> 
		<p>The Bible has been under attack since its beginning. Every generation brings with it a new cadre of characters set on undermining the credibility of the Bible. Some resort to ridicule, while others attempt a refutation. Consequently, this has caused many students to doubt God’s word.</p>

<p>There are <em>three</em> broad challenges to the Bible. Each focuses on a different aspect of Scripture. There are historical challenges, moral challenges, and scientific challenges.</p>

<p>First, the Bible is <em>unreliable</em>.</p>

<p>Many skeptics boldly assert that the Bible is historically unreliable, and, therefore, we cannot trust it. We’re told it has been changed through countless revisions, additions, and translations. They point to textual differences and apparent contradictions to bolster their claim. New Testament textual critic Bart Ehrman writes in <em>Jesus Interrupted</em>,</p>

<blockquote>
<p>The Bible is filled with discrepancies, many of them irreconcilable contradictions...The historical narratives of the Old Testament are filled with legendary fabrications and the book of Acts in the New Testament contains historically unreliable information about the life and teachings of Paul.</p>
</blockquote>

<p>Conversely, we’re convinced the Bible <em>is</em> an accurate account of what happened in the past. More than that, we stake our lives on its historical truth.</p>

<p>Second, the Bible is <em>immoral</em>.</p>

<p>The Bible is sometimes referred to as “The Good Book.”&nbsp;Ironically, this is precisely what many argue it cannot be. After all, the Bible contains content that offends our culture’s moral sensibilities. Atheist Sam Harris writes in <em>Letter to a Christian Nation</em>,</p>

<blockquote>
<p>The idea that the Bible is a perfect guide to morality is simply astounding, given the contents of the book...Consider the question of slavery. The entire civilized world now agrees that slavery is an abomination. What moral instruction do we get from the God of Abraham on this subject? Consult the Bible, and you will discover that the creator of the universe clearly expects us to keep slaves.</p>
</blockquote>

<p>So, the Bible is outdated at best, and dangerous at worst.</p>

<p>Yet, we’re convinced the Bible <em>is</em> perfectly good (Ps. 19:7) and profitable for training in righteousness (2 Tim. 3:16).</p>

<p>Third, the Bible is <em>unscientific</em>.</p>

<p>The Bible describes stories about a talking snake (Gen. 3:1-4), a global flood that wipes out nearly all of mankind (Gen. 6-9), a burning bush that is never consumed (Ex. 3:1-3), a virgin conception (Matt. 1:18-20), water being turned to wine (John 2:1-11), a man walking on water (Matt. 14:22-33), and a man rising from the dead (John 11:38-44). Atheist Richard Dawkins says these kinds of events are “<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OVEuQg_Mglw">palpably anti-scientific</a>.”</p>

<p>However, we’re convinced science and the Bible are compatible. In fact, science strengthens our confidence in God and His Word.</p>

<p>Despite each of these challenges, the word of our God still stands (Isa. 40:8). How is that possible? Simply put, these attacks have good answers.</p>

<p>That’s why we are excited to tell you about this year’s <a href="http://www.rethinkapologetics.com/">reTHINK Apologetics Student Conference</a>. The theme this year is “<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1BkiLKUVb1E">Has God Spoken?</a>”&nbsp;and we’ve invited some of the top Christian apologists to respond to these kinds of challenges. Speakers like J. Warner Wallace, Frank Turek, and Jason Jimenez, as well as a host of others, will help your students reTHINK the Bible.</p>

<p>So join us in Dallas, Texas at Cottonwood Creek Church on March 29-30, 2019 and Birmingham, Alabama at Briarwood Presbyterian Church on April 26-27, 2019, and find out why we’re convinced God has spoken and why that changes everything.</p>

<p>Be sure to visit <a href="http://rethinkapologetics.com/">reTHINKapologetics.com</a> for more information. Register today, and we’ll see you there.</p>
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title: An App to Help You Read through the Bible
topic: Christian Living
author: Amy K. Hall
date: 10/10/2018
source: https://www.str.org/w/an-app-to-help-you-read-through-the-bible
content:
            <div> 
		<p>In Greg’s commentary on <a href="https://www.str.org/podcasts/read-through-bible-once-year#.W71r5BNKijQ">today’s podcast</a>, he argued that every Christian should read through the Bible once a year. I absolutely agree with this. It was the best advice I ever got in grad school (see “<a href="https://www.str.org/articles/you-want-to-be-a-good-apologist#.W71uYBNKijQ">You Want to Be a Good Apologist?</a>”), and I often reflect on how different my life is because someone challenged me to do this.</p>

<p>Knowing God is a lifetime project, and we need to have a long-term view of the effort we put into it (see <a href="https://www.str.org/blog/long-term-plan-know-your-bible#.W71w2RNKijQ">here</a> for some ideas on how to go about this). Think of it as an investment. The best time to start investing is always now. Your deposits may seem small at first, but in ten years, you’ll be <em>ten years</em> farther along than you would have been had you waited to begin. Don’t waste that time! Think of all the fruit that will result from those ten years. And imagine looking ahead from there and realizing your knowledge, awe, and love of God are only going to get deeper.</p>

<p>The rewards are certainly worth the effort, but that doesn’t change the fact that we have to put in effort to see those rewards. If you’re anything like me (i.e., human), you won’t always feel like reading your Bible, but keep building on that foundation day after day after day. Don’t give up.</p>

<p>One tool that helps me read through the Bible is the <a href="https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/bible-box/id615918629?mt=8">Bible Box app</a>. You can choose from a few basic plans (Old Testament, New Testament, chronological, whole Bible), and then set an end date for when you want to finish. The app then tells you what you need to read for the day in order to meet that goal, and you simply check off the chapters as you read them.</p>

<p>The nice thing about the app is that you don’t <em>have</em> to read the books in any particular order. If you have a different plan that you like, or you just like to skip around, you can check off the chapters you read in whatever order you want, and the app will keep track for you. You can even have more than one plan going at once. I switch back and forth each month between Old Testament and New Testament, so I always have a plan open for each.</p>

<p>You can also see a calendar showing which days you completed some reading and which you missed, and if you start to get too far behind (which would cause the amount of your daily reading to increase), you can adjust your end date at any time. To help you track your progress over time, the app keeps a list of all your 100% finished plans, showing the dates when you started and finished.</p>

<p>Some days, you’ll feel like you can’t wait to read your Bible; and some days, you won’t. Our desires can be fickle, so we can’t depend on them to drive us. The key to sustained Bible reading over time is having a goal, developing a habit, and being faithful day after day. <a href="https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/bible-box/id615918629?mt=8">This app</a> can help.</p>
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title: We Still Need the Old Testament
topic: Theology
author: Amy K. Hall
date: 11/13/2018
source: https://www.str.org/w/we-still-need-the-old-testament
content:
            <div> 
		<p>Andy Stanley’s claim that we need to “<a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=3oEoDwAAQBAJ&amp;pg=PT297&amp;lpg=PT297&amp;dq=%22unhitching+your+teaching+of+what+it+means+to+follow+Jesus+from+all+things+old+covenant%22&amp;source=bl&amp;ots=rf_KttvcfA&amp;sig=Z9HoxKXeT1RZICdaMNuEddR6teA&amp;hl=en&amp;sa=X&amp;ved=2ahUKEwjpieyFps_eAhXk5YMKHXckCT4Q6AEwAXoECAAQAQ#v=onepage&amp;q=%22unhitching%20your%20teaching%20of%20what%20it%20means%20to%20follow%20Jesus%20from%20all%20things%20old%20covenant%22&amp;f=false">unhitch</a>”&nbsp;ourselves from the Old Testament in order to remove a “<a href="https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/reviews/irresistible-andy-stanley/">stumbling block to faith</a>”&nbsp;is a disturbing one (Greg discussed this on a podcast <a href="/w/the-role-of-the-old-testament-in-the-life-of-the-christian">here</a>; you can read about Stanley’s claim <a href="https://www.christianpost.com/news/christians-must-unhitch-old-testament-from-their-faith-says-andy-stanley-223818/">here</a> and listen to him on this topic <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pShxFTNRCWI&amp;feature=youtu.be">here</a>).</p>

<p>The question of how followers of Christ ought to interact with the Old Testament (and in particular, the Mosaic Law) is one that Christians have addressed since the very beginning (see Galatians, Hebrews, Romans, etc.). But in the last several years, I’ve seen a marked increase in the number of questions I regularly receive asking about this topic. I think this is partially due to pressure from our culture (e.g., “Why do you follow the commands about sexuality but reject the commands about mixed fibers?”&nbsp;etc.) and partially due to a drop in biblical understanding - Christians simply aren’t as familiar with the Bible as in times past. They don’t know what the Bible teaches about <a href="/w/should-followers-of-christ-observe-the-torah-">why we no longer follow the Mosaic Law</a>.</p>

<p>In a <a href="https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/article/old-covenant-response-andy-stanley/">response</a> to Andy Stanley’s new book, <em><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Irresistible-Reclaiming-Jesus-Unleashed-World/dp/0310536979/?tag=thegospcoal-20">Irresistible</a></em>, Thomas Schreiner sums up our relationship to the Law this way:</p>

<blockquote>
<p>Since believers are no longer under the Mosaic covenant, we’re not under the stipulations of the old covenant <em>as a covenant</em>. The Mosaic or Sinai covenant was enacted with Israel, not with us. Yahweh inaugurated the covenant with Israel when he freed them from Egypt. Israel’s covenant with the Lord contained both religious and political elements, and thus Israel as a nation, as a distinct people, received specific commandments for both its religious and political life. The laws given to Israel were its charter as a nation, as God’s special people in the ancient world. But the laws and stipulations aren’t the requirements for the church of Jesus Christ, which is under a new covenant (<a href="https://biblia.com/bible/esv/Jer.%2031.31%E2%80%9334">Jer. 31:31-34</a>; <a href="https://biblia.com/bible/esv/Ezek.%2036.26%E2%80%9327">Ezek. 36:26-27</a>; <a href="https://biblia.com/bible/esv/2%20Cor.%203.6">2 Cor. 3:6</a>; <a href="https://biblia.com/bible/esv/Heb.%208.8%E2%80%9313">Heb. 8:8-13</a>).</p>
</blockquote>

<p>You can read a similar explanation from Greg <a href="/w/how-does-the-old-testament-law-apply-to-christians-today-">here</a>. But this doesn’t mean Christians don’t <em>need</em> the Old Testament. Besides creating a nation through the Mosaic Law, God inspired the Old Testament in order to reveal Himself and lay the foundation for <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=luke+24%3A25-27&amp;version=NASB">understanding the person and work of Christ</a>. This applies to those who came after Christ as much as to those who came before. Further, without God’s revelation of His own character in the Old Testament, particularly in the Law, we would not know what it means to love when Jesus commands us to love one another. As we read in 2 Timothy 3:16-17 (written to Christians), “All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; so that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work.”</p>

<p>If we “unhitch”&nbsp;ourselves from the Old Testament, we cut ourselves off from knowledge about God that <em>He</em> considered to be necessary. And without this knowledge, we cannot know how we are meant to behave as His representatives. Are there things in the Old Testament that are difficult to understand? Certainly! But the answer isn’t to eject them. The answer is to work to understand them in light of the context of the <em>whole</em> Bible. If you truly want to know God, this is the only way forward. Anything less will deny you the joy of knowing Him the way He wanted you to know Him. It’s devastating to me to think some may follow Stanley’s advice and settle for a diminished view of God.</p>

<p>Schreiner continues:</p>

<blockquote>
<p>Yes, the old covenant has passed away in its entirety, and believers aren’t under the old covenant but the new covenant, which was inaugurated with Jesus’s death and resurrection (cf. <a href="https://biblia.com/bible/esv/Jer.%2031.31%E2%80%9334">Jer. 31:31-34</a>; <a href="https://biblia.com/bible/esv/Gal.%203.15%E2%80%934.7">Gal. 3:15-4:7</a>; <a href="https://biblia.com/bible/esv/Rom.%206.14%E2%80%9315">Rom. 6:14-15</a>; <a href="https://biblia.com/bible/esv/Rom%207.4%E2%80%936">7:4-6</a>; <a href="https://biblia.com/bible/esv/Heb.%208.1%E2%80%9310.18">Heb. 8:1-10:18</a>). But moral norms still exist for believers. Love isn’t just a sentimental feeling.</p>

<p>Saying that the old covenant has passed away doesn’t mean the Old Testament is no longer (or somehow less) the Word of God. All of the Scriptures, both Old and New Testament, are the final authority as God’s infallible and inerrant word. All of the Old Testament has a revelatory and pedagogical authority for believers in Jesus Christ. We must interpret the Old Testament in terms of God’s progressive revelation in his covenants in order to discern how to apply it today...</p>

<p>The commands that are normative for believers today aren’t normative merely because they’re in the Ten Commandments or because they’re part of the old covenant. We know from the New Testament, from the new covenant, which moral norms apply today, and they remain moral norms because they express the character of God.</p>
</blockquote>

<p>Read the rest <a href="https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/article/old-covenant-response-andy-stanley/">here</a>, and you can read a review of <em>Irresistible</em> from a slightly different perspective by Michael Kruger <a href="https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/reviews/irresistible-andy-stanley/">here</a>.</p>
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title: Is God More Tolerant Today?
topic: Theology
author: Tim Barnett
date: 10/25/2018
source: https://www.str.org/w/is-god-more-tolerant-today-
content:
            <div> 
		<p>We are all prone to imagine a god that is more like our culture than who God truly is. If we’re not careful, <a href="https://www.str.org/blog/culture-shaping-your-view-god">the culture will shape our view of God.</a></p>

<p>For example, the <em>summum bonum - </em>the highest good - of our culture is tolerance. Not surprisingly, as our culture becomes more tolerant and less concerned about sin, so does the god they worship.</p>

<p>To support the idea that God is getting more tolerant, some appeal to the Bible. After all, God isn’t raining down fire and brimstone like He did in the Old Testament. He isn’t turning people into pillars of salt for disobedience. No, something has changed. <a href="https://www.str.org/blog/does-bible-depict-two-different-gods">But it’s not God.</a></p>

<p>There <em>is</em> a difference between how God relates to people in the Old Testament and how God relates to people in the New Testament, but it’s not because of a change in His character. If God hasn’t changed, then what has?</p>

<p>Allow me to explain. To do so, I want to spend some time looking at a significant text in Hebrews where the author contrasts how God relates to people under the old and new covenants in different ways.</p>

<h2>God Approaches People Differently</h2>

<p>The author of Hebrews begins by describing how God related to the people of Israel <em>under the Old Covenant.</em></p>

<blockquote>
<p>For <em>you have not come</em> to what may be touched, a blazing fire and darkness and gloom and a tempest and the sound of a trumpet and a voice whose words made the hearers beg that no further messages be spoken to them. For they could not endure the order that was given, “If even a beast touches the mountain, it shall be stoned.”&nbsp;Indeed, so terrifying was the sight that Moses said, “I tremble with fear.”&nbsp;(Hebrews 12:18-29)</p>
</blockquote>

<p>The author reminds his readers that God, in the Old Testament, was <em>unapproachable</em>. To illustrate his point, he uses a historical event that all Jews would be familiar with: Moses receiving the Ten Commandments at Mount Sinai. Look again at the description: “a blazing fire,”&nbsp;“darkness,”&nbsp;“gloom,”&nbsp;and “a tempest.”&nbsp;Remember, this <em>isn’t</em> describing Hell. This is describing the presence of God.</p>

<p>God met with Moses at Mount Sinai. But the people were warned that they must not touch the Mount lest they be put to death. God gave Moses strict instructions:</p>

<blockquote>
<p>And you shall set limits for the people all around, saying, “Take care not to go up into the mountain or touch the edge of it. Whoever touches the mountain shall be put to death. No hand shall touch him, but he shall be stoned or shot; whether beast or man, he shall not live.”&nbsp;(Exodus 19:12-13)</p>

<p>Now when all the people saw the thunder and the flashes of lightning and the sound of the trumpet and the mountain smoking, the people were afraid and trembled, and they stood far off and said to Moses, “You speak to us, and we will listen; but do not let God speak to us, lest we die.”&nbsp;(Exodus 20:18-19)</p>
</blockquote>

<p>Why does God appear <em>this</em> way? Why not appear like a disarming, Gandalf-like grandpa figure? Or, why not appear like a heavyset, non-judgmental, African American woman named “<a href="https://www.challies.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/The-Shack.pdf">Papa</a>”? I’ll tell you why. Most people - past and present - think that God can be approached by anyone, in any way. They believe that God is always loving and embracing, never wrathful and judging.</p>

<p>But that isn’t true. God appears this way - and Hebrews highlights it for us - to demonstrate that God is a <em>lethal</em> threat to anyone who dares approach Him through the law.</p>

<p>Let me put it this way: <em>Apart from the gospel there is no access to God.</em></p>

<p>This, by the way, is why Islam, and Hinduism, and Buddhism, and New Age teaching won’t work. Those who embrace these religions will only find a blazing fire, darkness, gloom, a tempest, fear, and terror. If you reject divine grace in Jesus Christ, then you will get nothing but divine wrath.</p>

<p>God’s appearance on Mount Sinai communicated something we can all quickly forget: <em>God is unapproachable on our terms.</em> This account is meant to show that God is distant, separate, and off limits. For sinful people who trust in their own merits, God will always be a terrifying reality. In fact, our text says, “Indeed, so terrifying was the sight that Moses said, ’I tremble with fear’”&nbsp;(Hebrews 12:21).</p>

<p>Thankfully, the author of Hebrews does not stop at verse 21. Next, he contrasts this unapproachability with our current state before God.</p>

<blockquote>
<p>But <em>you have come</em> to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to innumerable angels in festal gathering, and to the assembly of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven, and to God, the judge of all, and to the spirits of the righteous made perfect, and to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and to <em>the sprinkled blood</em> that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel. (Hebrews 12:22-24)</p>
</blockquote>

<p>We have <em>not</em> come to Mount Sinai (v.18), where God is distant and unapproachable. Rather, we have come to Mount Zion (v.22), where God is close and desires to dwell with His people.</p>

<p>How is this possible? Verse 24 answers this question. We have come “<em>to Jesus,</em> the mediator of a new covenant, and to <em>the sprinkled blood</em> that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel.”&nbsp;The author of Hebrews is saying that we are no longer under the <em>old covenant</em>. We are under a <em>new covenant</em>.</p>

<p>And we have <em>not only</em> come to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, but we have <em>also</em> come “to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel.”</p>

<p>How does Jesus’&nbsp;blood speak a better word than the blood of Abel? Both Jesus and Abel were killed at the hands of the wicked. Both died deaths they didn’t deserve. But there was a significant difference. Abel’s blood cried out for <em>vengeance</em>, while Jesus’&nbsp;blood speaks out for <em>forgiveness</em>, <em>atonement</em>, and <em>pardon</em>. Jesus makes all the difference.</p>

<p>Mount Sinai is a picture of approaching God when sins are <em>not</em> atoned for. Mount Zion, on the other hand, is a picture of approaching God through the atoning blood of Christ.</p>

<p>God is the same; Jesus’&nbsp;sacrifice is the difference.</p>

<h2>God Judges People Differently</h2>

<p>Some people are quick to point out that we see a lot of judgment being carried out in the Old Testament. Yet, we see very few <em>immediate</em> acts of judgment in the New Testament. This observation has led people to falsely assume that God isn’t in the judging business anymore.</p>

<p>However, our Hebrews text rules this out:</p>

<blockquote>
<p>See that you do not refuse him who is speaking. <em>For if they did not escape when they refused him who warned them on earth</em>, <em>much less will we escape if we reject him who warns from heaven.</em> At that time his voice shook the earth, but now he has promised, “Yet once more I will shake not only the earth but also the heavens.”&nbsp;This phrase, “Yet once more,”&nbsp;indicates the removal of things that are shaken - that is, things that have been made - in order that the things that cannot be shaken may remain. Therefore let us be grateful for receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, and thus let us offer to God acceptable worship, with reverence and awe, <em>for our God is a consuming fire.</em> (Hebrews 12:25-29)</p>
</blockquote>

<p>This passage is clear. Just as <em>they</em> - the people of Israel - did not escape God’s judgment when they rejected Him, <em>we</em> will not escape God’s judgment if we reject Him. God is still wrathful - a consuming fire. And He still judges. But <em>how</em> He judges and <em>when</em> He pours out His wrath has changed.</p>

<p>How does God respond to wickedness today? God rarely judges with <em>immediate, fierce judgment</em>. Instead, He judges with <em>delayed</em>, <em>future judgment</em>.</p>

<p>Paul tells the Church in Rome, “But because of your hard and impenitent heart <em>you are storing up wrath</em> for yourself <em>on the day of wrath</em> when God’s righteous judgment will be revealed”&nbsp;(Romans 2:5). Generally speaking, while God’s wrath in the Old Testament is poured out, His wrath in the New Testament is stored up. For those who refuse to repent, God’s wrath cannot be dodged. It is merely <em>delayed</em>.</p>

<p>There is a future day coming when God will perfectly judge mankind for their wickedness. In fact, Paul says, “Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry. On account of these <em>the wrath of God is coming”</em>&nbsp;(Colossians 3:6). And those who turn to God, Jesus will deliver “<em>from the wrath to come”</em>&nbsp;(1 Thessalonians 1:10).</p>

<p>We mustn’t confuse God’s patience toward sinners with tolerance toward sin. God is <em>still</em> judge. He hasn’t changed. But how He deals with sinful man has. Because of Jesus, God approaches people differently. Because of Jesus, God judges people differently. The God on Mount Sinai is the same God on Mount Zion. God’s wrath did not disappear in the New Testament. It didn’t just evaporate into thin air. No, we can be saved because God’s wrath was <em>satisfied</em>. For those who put their faith in Christ, God’s wrath was poured out on His Son in our place (1 John 4:10; Isa. 52:5-6, 10).</p>
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title: Seven Issues to Consider as You’re Thinking about Halloween
topic: Christian Living
author: Tim Barnett
date: 10/31/2018
source: https://www.str.org/w/seven-issues-to-consider-as-you-re-thinking-about-halloween
content:
            <div> 
		<p>For many, YouTube is the first place to turn when a question arises. It’s not surprising, then, that huge numbers of people are going to this video-sharing website for answers to their <em>theological</em> questions.</p>

<p>One YouTuber who is consistently providing relevant content is Mike Winger - <a href="http://www.biblethinker.org/">the Bible Thinker</a>. Through <a href="https://www.youtube.com/user/EkimRegniw">his channel</a>, Mike provides clear-thinking Christianity to tens of thousands of people <em>per day.</em></p>

<p>Last week, Mike posted some biblically-informed thoughts on Halloween. Since many sincere Christians are wondering about the appropriate level of involvement, if any, in Halloween, I thought I would share <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ALY9aLKm9YI">his video</a>.</p>

<p>In the video, Mike lays out <em>seven</em> important things to consider in order to make an informed judgment about Halloween.</p>

<p>Enjoy!</p>

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title: We Take Christianity’s Influence on the World for Granted
topic: History
author: Amy K. Hall
date: 10/19/2018
source: https://www.str.org/w/we-take-christianity-s-influence-on-the-world-for-granted
content:
            <div> 
		<p>Historian and author <a href="https://www.tom-holland.org/">Tom Holland</a>, while not a Christian, came to realize as he studied the classical world that the Western values and morals he cherished came not from Greece and Rome, but from Christianity (see <a href="/w/jesus-built-western-civilization">here</a>).</p>

<p>On an <em>Unbelievable?</em> podcast, Holland had a discussion with N.T. Wright on the question “How Did St. Paul Change the World?”&nbsp;In the clip below, you can hear him talk about how he came to recognize the dramatic influence Christianity had on the world. (You can watch the full hour-long discussion <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nlf_ULB26cU">here</a>.)</p>

<blockquote>
<p>In almost every way, [the classical world] is unspeakably cruel, to our way of thinking...</p>

<p>[Paul’s portion of the New Testament] is not a very lengthy amount of writing, but compacted into this very, very small amount of writing was almost everything that explains the modern world...Concepts like international law, for instance, concepts of human rights, all these kind of things - ultimately, they don’t go back to Greek philosophers; they don’t go back to Roman imperialism; they go back to Paul. His letters, I think, are, along with the four Gospels, the most influential, the most impactful, the most revolutionary writings that have emerged from the ancient world...</p>

<p>I think of [Paul] as a kind of depth charge deep beneath the foundations of the classical world. It’s not anything that you particularly notice if you’re in Corinth or Alexandria. And then you start feeling this rippling outwards. And by the time you get to the 11th century in Latin Christendom, <em>everything</em> has changed. I think, essentially, what Paul’s significance is, is that he sets up ripple effects of revolution throughout Western history...It spilled out so much, that now, in the 21st century, we don’t even realize where these ripple effects are coming from. We just take them for granted.</p>
</blockquote>

<div class="embed-responsive embed-responsive-16by9" data-embed-id="AIJ9gK47Ogw" data-styles="{&quot;width&quot;:&quot;100%&quot;}" style="width:100%"><iframe allow="encrypted-media" allowfullscreen="" class="embed-responsive-item" frameborder="0" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/AIJ9gK47Ogw?rel=0" tabindex="0"></iframe></div>

<p>And of course, Paul’s ideas didn’t come out of nowhere. God began a process of transforming Paul’s world when He called Abraham out of his home country in order to create a new people who, over the centuries, would be shaped by God’s laws and His temple into a cultural foundation that would prepare the way for seeing and understanding Christ and His work. Paul’s writing was shaped not only by the contemporary reality of Jesus and His teachings, but also by the previous 1,500 years of a culture living under the Mosaic Law and writings of the Old Testament. Both Jesus and the Old Testament were revelations of God.</p>

<p>Many people make the mistake of thinking Christianity is <a href="/w/atheists-small-view-of-christianity">silly</a>. It isn’t silly, because our God isn’t silly. And when you see the massive accomplishments His word brought about in this world, you start to get a glimpse of that.</p>
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title: Smallfoot Requires a Big Discussion
topic: Christian Living
author: Alan Shlemon
date: 10/24/2018
source: https://www.str.org/w/smallfoot-requires-a-big-discussion
content:
            <div> 
		<p>If you see <em>Smallfoot</em> with your children, plan to discuss it with them. It’s a clever movie with funny moments, but it also mocks religious belief, and, in my opinion, it’s clearly targeted at Christianity. In fact, it reminds me of <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0120789/" target="_blank">Pleasantville</a>, a movie with a similar theme, where tradition and traditional values are mocked while progress and the new morality are celebrated.</p>

<p>This isn’t a review, and I’m not telling you to avoid seeing it. In fact, as our kids are exposed to false ideas through movies, music, and books, we try to teach them to evaluate ideas and how they’re communicated in culture.</p>

<p>Here were <em>some</em> of the messages my kids - 13 and 11 years old - took away from the movie.</p>

<ul>
	<li>The Stonekeeper - a religious figure like Moses with the Ten Commandments - keeps stones that have the rules of life for the yeti tribe. These rules are lies that are meant to instill fear in the yetis and oppress them. When the rules and principles (based on their creation myth) are discovered to be false, the yetis lose their purpose and role in their society.</li>
	<li>The yetis have a creation myth that’s obviously ridiculous but is believed by everyone except for the Stonekeeper and the ancestors that have handed down the myths for the protection of the yeti.</li>
	<li>Science is progress and progress is good. The more evidence they discover, the more the myths are disproven and the Stonekeeper loses his control over the community. Tradition and ancient ideas are bad, while progress and new ideas are good.</li>
	<li>Questions are discouraged. When a discussion about the inconsistencies of their creation myth are raised, the yeti are told to “push the questions down.”</li>
	<li>When the main yeti reports evidence of a smallfoot (AKA a human) and tells the village, he’s banished from the community because he’s going against the writings of the ancient stones.</li>
	<li>When the main yeti provides evidence of a smallfoot, the Stonekeeper tells him to tell the community the human is just a yak - to lie - in order to protect the yeti tribe from the dangers of the humans (the name of the song sung by the Stonekeeper at this point is “Let It Lie”). Of course, the yetis only think the humans are dangerous because they haven’t taken the effort to get know them. (That’s like Christians, right? We fear people who are different from us because we don’t take the time to know them...sigh.)</li>
</ul>

<p>There are good messages, too. For example, the main human character is initially inclined to fake discovering a yeti but is encouraged to act with integrity and not deceive. Eventually, heeding this advice, he also sacrifices his own fame in order to save the yeti tribe.</p>

<p>The main yeti is also a good character who is going out to discover the truth and bring it to his tribe. (Of course, his likability is leveraged by the filmmakers against religious beliefs since the truth he discovers debunks the teaching of the ancients).</p>

<p>So I’m not trying to merely bash the movie. It has its positive moments, and I strongly believe that parents should also bring out those elements in the discussion with their kids. Unfortunately, the movie is well done, but in a way that doesn’t tell the truth and mocks religious belief.</p>

<p>You need to be mindful of the messages of our culture and process them with your children (<a href="https://www.str.org/blog/mocking-false-ideas-dangerous-and-disrespectful" target="_blank">instead of mocking them</a>). Remember our principle at Stand to Reason: <a href="https://www.str.org/articles/inoculate-don't-isolate" target="_blank">Inoculate, don’t isolate</a>.</p>
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title: Have You Heard Our #STRask Podcast?
topic: Announcements
author: Amy K. Hall
date: 10/30/2018
source: https://www.str.org/w/have-you-heard-our-strask-podcast-
content:
            <div> 
		<p>I’ve discovered that a lot of you who follow Stand to Reason don’t know we have a podcast called #STRask, where Greg and I discuss questions sent to us on Twitter. It’s shorter than STR’s main podcast - about 20 minutes - and we usually get through three or four questions per episode, so it’s a little faster moving than the main podcast.</p>

<p>You can find it on <a href="https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/strask-with-greg-koukl/id1030958668?mt=2">iTunes</a> or look it up on any podcast app (just make sure you search for “#STRask”&nbsp;- all one word); and if you’re not one for iTunes or podcast apps, you can listen <a href="/podcasts">on our website</a>. Give it a try!</p>

<p>(Twitter users, we can always use more questions to choose from! Send us your questions with the hashtag <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/strask?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Ehashtag">#STRask</a>.)</p>
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title: A Foundation for Friendships in Politically Contentious Times
topic: Christian Living
author: Amy K. Hall
date: 11/01/2018
source: https://www.str.org/w/a-foundation-for-friendships-in-politically-contentious-times
content:
            <div> 
		<p>Micah Watson, co-author of <em><a href="https://www.amazon.com/C-Lewis-Politics-Natural-Law/dp/1107518970/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&amp;qid=1541032213&amp;sr=8-3">C.S. Lewis on Politics and the Natural Law</a></em>, has some good words for these alarmingly politically contentious times in “<a href="https://www.thepublicdiscourse.com/2018/10/45852/">C.S. Lewis and Aristotle on Civic Friendship</a>.”&nbsp;He points out that it’s natural for political views to strain friendships. Since friendships are about “a commitment to the other person’s good,”&nbsp;which requires “a shared understanding of what is good,”&nbsp;political disagreements with friends about <em>what is good</em> are deeply unsettling: “Our politics reflects our sense of what’s good, and that’s intensely personal.”</p>

<p>But, he says, as Christians, we need not “allow what is instrumentally valuable (politics) to poison what is intrinsically valuable (people, relationships)”:</p>

<blockquote>
<p>[F]riendship [with those with whom we disagree] could be useful and perhaps even enjoyable, but most importantly it partakes in the good of the other because we can agree that one component of our good is respect for others with whom we disagree about other fundamental aspects of the good.</p>

<p>The Christian, however, has a different and deeper source from which to draw in loving her fellow believer and her neighbor. The Christian can offer friendship to the non-believing neighbor, friend, or family member because the Christian is committed to the highest good, which is a who rather than a what. The neighbor who is made in God’s image bears a relationship to the Good that requires even more than mere civility, as important as that is. We have it on high authority that we are to love our enemies. Surely this applies to our political adversaries as well.</p>

<p>And when it comes to the Christian who cannot understand why her co-religionist supports <em>him</em>, or stood with <em>her</em>, genuine friendship can still exist, even if frustrating and difficult, because both parties can be committed to the other person’s good, defined and embodied and empowered by the person of Jesus Christ...[R]elationship with Christ is the greatest supernatural good. This relationship to Christ and to each other as brothers and sisters heightens the tension and offers us the means to live with and through it. It heightens the tension because we cannot see how someone who shares our faith can identify with that party or that person or that position. It offers us the means to live with and through the tension and the contradiction because we can call upon God to help us and our friend come to know the truth about how we should live, and how we should live with others with whom we strongly disagree.</p>
</blockquote>

<p>It’s worth reading the rest <a href="https://www.thepublicdiscourse.com/2018/10/45852/">here</a>.</p>
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title: A Victory for Free Speech in the UK
topic: Sexuality and Gender
author: Amy K. Hall
date: 10/11/2018
source: https://www.str.org/w/a-victory-for-free-speech-in-the-uk
content:
            <div> 
		<p>Free speech has been upheld in the UK this week. Back in 2014, when a Belfast bakery declined to make a cake with the inscription “Support Gay Marriage,”&nbsp;the owners of the bakery, Daniel and Amy McArthur, were sued by the customer, and the court ruled they had <a href="https://www.supremecourt.uk/cases/docs/uksc-2017-0020-press-summary.pdf">illegally discriminated</a> against him because of his sexual orientation, religious beliefs, and political opinions.</p>

<p>I found the case noteworthy at the time because an LGBT activist, Peter Tatchell, <a href="/w/lgbt-activist-says-we-should-be-allowed-to-discriminate-against-ideas">argued in favor of protecting the rights of the bakers</a>, saying, “If the Ashers [Bakery] verdict stands...it would leave businesses unable to refuse to decorate cakes or print posters with bigoted messages.”&nbsp;He recognized the need for allowing people to operate their businesses according to their consciences, knowing that forcing people to promote ideas they disagree with could come back to haunt the very LGBT people whose rights he fights for. He recognized that if free speech rights don’t protect <em>everyone</em>, they protect no one.</p>

<p>Now the UK’s Supreme Court has unanimously <a href="https://www.thetablet.co.uk/news/10841/supreme-court-rules-in-favour-of-bakery-in-gay-cake-case-">agreed</a>, ruling in favor of the bakery, and noting, as did Tatchell, that this was not a case of discrimination against someone because of his sexual orientation, or beliefs, or anything else:</p>

<blockquote>
<p>Announcing <a href="https://www.supremecourt.uk/cases/docs/uksc-2017-0020-judgment.pdf">the ruling</a>, Supreme Court president, Lady Hale, said: “It is deeply humiliating, and an affront to human dignity, to deny someone a service because of that person’s race, gender, disability, sexual orientation or any of the other protected personal characteristics.”</p>

<p>“But that is not what happened in this case and it does the project of equal treatment no favours to seek to extend it beyond its proper scope,”&nbsp;she continued.</p>

<p>She said that freedom of expression includes the right “not to express an opinion which one does not hold”.</p>

<p>“This court has held that ’nobody should be forced to have or express a political opinion in which he does not believe’”, she said.</p>
</blockquote>

<p>In the court’s <a href="https://www.supremecourt.uk/cases/docs/uksc-2017-0020-press-summary.pdf">press summary</a>, a clear distinction is made between discriminating against an individual and declining to promote that individual’s message:</p>

<blockquote>
<p>The McArthurs could not refuse to provide their products to Mr Lee because he was a gay man or because he supported gay marriage, but that was different from obliging them to supply a cake iced with a message with which they profoundly disagreed.</p>
</blockquote>

<p>This is exactly the distinction that needs to be made (see “<a href="/w/refusing-to-serve-individuals-vs-refusing-to-participate-in-events">Refusing to Serve Individuals vs. Refusing to Participate in Events</a>”), and Tatchell is once again arguing that making this distinction <a href="http://www.petertatchellfoundation.org/ashers-gay-cake-verdict-is-victory-for-freedom-of-expression/">protects <em>everyone</em></a>:</p>

<blockquote>
<p>“This verdict is a victory for freedom of expression. As well as meaning that Ashers cannot be legally forced to aid the promotion of same-sex marriage, it also means that gay bakers cannot be compelled by law to decorate cakes with anti-gay marriage slogans,”&nbsp;said human rights campaigner Peter Tatchell...</p>

<p>“Although I profoundly disagree with Ashers opposition to marriage equality, in a free society neither they nor anyone else should be forced to facilitate a political idea that they oppose.</p>

<p>“The ruling does not permit anyone to discriminate against LGBT people. Such discrimination rightly remains unlawful.</p>

<p>“Ashers did not discriminate against the customer, Gareth Lee, because he was gay. They objected to the message he wanted on the cake: ’Support gay marriage.’”</p>
</blockquote>

<p>Seeing the UK Supreme Court’s unanimous decision and Tatchell’s principled stand for free speech rights above his own agenda both give me hope. Perhaps a time will come again <a href="/w/religious-liberty-case-is-not-about-refusing-to-serve-people-because-of-who-they-are-">in this nation</a> when free speech is something we can all agree on - a starting point of solidarity, a way back to civility.</p>
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title: Seven Pro-Life Action Steps
topic: Bioethics
author: Alan Shlemon
date: 10/09/2018
source: https://www.str.org/w/seven-pro-life-action-steps
content:
            <div> 
		<p>Being pro-life is not merely an attitude. It’s a behavior - it’s something you do.</p>

<p>Last week, I spoke on the art of pro-life persuasion in San Diego. Towards the end of my presentation, I offered seven action steps pro-lifers could take to make a difference in the lives of the unborn and their mothers who face crisis pregnancies.</p>

<ol>
	<li><strong>Don’t have an abortion yourself</strong>. Planned Parenthood data indicates that a significant percentage of women who have abortions identify themselves as Christian. That means Christians are killing their own children. If we’re going to make abortion unthinkable, it needs to stop with us.</li>
	<li><strong>Learn the <a href="https://store.str.org/ProductDetails.asp?ProductCode=DVD008" target="_blank">art of pro-life persuasion</a></strong>. That’s what I taught last week in San Diego. These are tactics that help you effectively, yet graciously, engage abortion-choice advocates on the most important aspects of the discussion about abortion. I would add that besides studying the material, you should role-play the tactics with a friend.</li>
	<li><strong>Engage people who disagree with you</strong>. Once you’ve learned how to graciously engage others, start talking to people who disagree with you. You’ll never learn the art of pro-life persuasion effectively until you get pushback from abortion-choice advocates.</li>
	<li><strong>Take your group on a <a href="https://www.str.org/articles/the-pro-life-mission" target="_blank">pro-life mission</a></strong>. This is a multi-day (two days or more) mission trip geared for anyone who wants to learn and practice the tactics of having persuasive, gracious conversations with abortion-choice advocates. You learn how to integrate your pro-life view with multiple areas: moral, theological, legal, practical, etc. The training and role-play prepares participants to effectively share their convictions in actual face-to-face conversations with those who disagree. You can read more about this experience at the provided link.</li>
	<li><strong>Volunteer for a pregnancy resource center</strong>. This is the front line. These centers provide support, resources, counseling, and sometimes even housing for women facing crisis pregnancies. Many women who are abortion-minded decide to keep their child after encountering the loving care provided by these centers and their staff. You can find a center near you by using a search tool like <a href="https://www.care-net.org/find-a-pregnancy-center" target="_blank">this</a> or <a href="https://optionline.org/" target="_blank">this</a>.</li>
	<li><strong>Vote for pro-life policies or candidates</strong>. We need to change the laws to protect women and their unborn children. That’s not going to happen if we vote people into office or pass laws that don’t protect the most vulnerable people in our society. Besides, laws tend to inform the conscience of a culture. Allowing abortion to remain legal and unrestricted tends to make people believe that abortion is moral. If abortion were made illegal, then eventually people would tend to think it’s immoral. To clarify, I’m <em>not</em> arguing that what’s legal is moral. I’m just saying that behaviors that are legal suggest to some that such behaviors are moral.</li>
	<li><strong>Financially support a pregnancy resource center, pro-life group, or pro-life leader</strong>. Whether we like it or not, money makes it possible for people to get their pro-life work done and helps pregnancy resource centers to support more women. If you can’t volunteer your time and energy (action step #5), support pro-life work with your finances.</li>
</ol>

<p>Again, it’s great to be attitudinally pro-life, but we also want to <em>do</em> something to stop the killing. These seven steps are all practical ways to put feet to your convictions.</p>
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title: Is Proverbs 3:5-6 about Finding the Will of God?
topic: Theology
author: Keith Plummer
date: 10/16/2018
source: https://www.str.org/w/is-proverbs-3-5-6-about-finding-the-will-of-god-
content:
            <div> 
		<p>“Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will .”</p>

<p>How you complete the above verses (Proverbs 3:5-6) will depend on which English version you memorized them from. They’re frequently presented as a promise of specific, divine guidance for decision making, especially because the King James Version renders the latter part of verse 6, “...and He shall direct your paths,”&nbsp;instead of the more accurate translation of the verb, which means “to make straight”&nbsp;or “to make smooth.”&nbsp;Garry Friesen, in <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Decision-Making-Will-God-Alternative/dp/1590522052/ref=sr_1_1_twi_pap_2?s=books&amp;ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1539642288&amp;sr=1-1&amp;keywords=decision+making+and+the+will+of+god&amp;dpID=51yrMkst8-L&amp;preST=_SY291_BO1,204,203,200_QL40_&amp;dpSrc=srch"><em>Decision Making and the Will of God</em></a>, quotes Old Testament scholar Bruce Waltke recounting a colleague’s difficulty coming to terms with this:</p>

<blockquote>
<p>All of us have had the shock of discovering that a favorite verse in the King James Version was inaccurate...I recall the astonishment of one of the committee members assigned to translate the Book of Proverbs for the New International Version when he discovered that Proverbs 3:5-6 had nothing to say about guidance...[W]hen confronted with the linguistic data he had to admit reluctantly that the verse more properly read “and He will make your path smooth.”&nbsp;(p. 57)</p>
</blockquote>

<p>One of the reasons I dare to recommend Garry Friesen’s 400+ page tome is its fourth chapter, “Does Scripture Teach the Dot?”&nbsp;in which he examines the biblical passages most frequently offered as proof texts for the teaching that God has a personalized plan which we must discern through various means in order to be “in the center of God’s will.”&nbsp;This chapter is, in my opinion, worth the price of the book because in each instance Friesen models sound interpretive methods, paying careful attention to the literary and thematic contexts of the verses that are often ripped from their surroundings to support the notion of an individualized will we must discover in order to make God-pleasing choices.</p>

<p>Concerning the significance of the imagery of a “path”&nbsp;in Proverbs 3:6, Friesen writes:</p>

<blockquote>
<p>The noun “path”&nbsp;is frequently employed in the Psalms and Proverbs. But it does not have the idea of an individual will of God. Hebrew writers use it to describe the general course or fortunes of life (see <a href="http://biblegateway.com/passage/?search=pro%204:18-19&amp;version=47">Proverbs 4:18-19</a>; <a href="http://biblegateway.com/passage/?search=pro%2015:19;&amp;version=47;">15:19</a>). When the verb “make straight, make smooth”&nbsp;is connected with “paths,”&nbsp;the meaning of the statement is, “He shall make the course of your life successful.”&nbsp;This meaning is clearly indicated in Proverbs 11:5:</p>

<p>The righteousness of the blameless will <em>smooth his way,</em></p>

<p>But the wicked will fall by his own wickedness.</p>

<p>This verse contrasts the righteous man who experiences true success in life with the wicked man who brings trouble upon himself by his devious behavior. This is a common theme in Proverbs (4:18­-19; 11:5; 15:19; <a href="http://biblegateway.com/passage/?search=pro%2022:17-21;&amp;version=47;">22:17-21</a>). (pp. 56-57)</p>
</blockquote>

<p>Friesen notes that the first ten verses of Proverbs 3 are a series of two-verse couplets. Each couplet contains a command to obey the Lord followed by a description of the blessing that generally accompanies godliness. “The true intent of Proverbs 3:5-6,”&nbsp;he concludes, “is to set forth a pattern the believer should follow to experience true success in life - a pattern in which he demonstrates his trust and obedience to God by following the directions of God’s moral will”&nbsp;(p. 58). Given this understanding, the imperative to not lean on our own understanding is not a call to abandon the processes of fact-finding and deliberation as though they were somehow antagonistic to following the Lord. God is not prohibiting the use of our minds to evaluate the various options before us and settle on a course of action. What is prohibited is an evaluative process that operates independently of the fear of the Lord. Instead of relying on my own understanding, I am to trust the understanding that comes through God’s interpretation of, and instruction about, life (see <a href="http://biblegateway.com/passage/?search=pro%202:6;&amp;version=47;">Proverbs 2:6</a> and <a href="http://biblegateway.com/passage/?search=pro%209:6;&amp;version=47;">9:6</a>).</p>

<p>The popularity of what Friesen calls “the dot theory”&nbsp;of God’s will (the idea that God’s individualized will is like a bull’s-eye that we must hit) is due to a number of factors. Among them is our tendency to approach the Bible atomistically. We tend to focus on individual verses with a zoom lens, and at times that’s necessary. However, we can’t stop there; we must also use a telephoto lens in order to understand their relationship to the big picture.</p>
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title: The Danger of Thinking You’re Morally Good
topic: Theology
author: Aaron Brake
date: 11/07/2018
source: https://www.str.org/w/the-danger-of-thinking-you-re-morally-good
content:
            <div> 
		<p>Perhaps second only to what you believe about God, no issue has greater influence on determining your theological views than whether you consider human nature to be morally good or not. A recent study conducted by Ligonier Ministries and LifeWay Research titled <em><a href="https://thestateoftheology.com/">The State of Theology</a></em> found that 52 percent of Evangelicals agree with the following statement: “Everyone sins a little, but most people are good by nature.”&nbsp;Ligonier and LifeWay concluded that “although evangelicals believe that Jesus died on the cross for their salvation...many do not fully understand the gravity of sin.”&nbsp;So while much of modern secular sensibility seems attracted to the idea that human beings, at their core, are basically good, this belief isn’t peculiar to non-Christians. It has found its way into the Church, as well.</p>

<p>But this confidence in the inherent moral goodness of humankind has its root in original sin.</p>

<p>After Adam and Eve rebelled against God and brought sin into the world, they experienced for the first time both guilt and shame. Because of their guilt, they attempted to hide from God, and due to their shame, they attempted to cover themselves through their own effort. This first sin had devastating effects, not only for Adam and Eve but also for all of their posterity. Guilt, shame, corruption, and eventual death became the norm. In that sense, each one of us is born into this world as a little fallen Adam and Eve. And like Adam and Eve, fallen humankind today attempts to hide and cover from God. But rather than sew fig leaves together, one of the most prevalent ways we attempt to cover our moral shame and guilt is by appealing to our own moral “goodness.”&nbsp;That is, we point to our “basic human goodness”&nbsp;and “good deeds”&nbsp;in an attempt to justify ourselves before God. Often this even becomes a rationalization as to why we don’t need God. “Why do I need God?”&nbsp;the unbeliever asks; “I’m living a good enough life on my own.”</p>

<p>Ironically, then, these “good deeds”&nbsp;performed by fallen human beings, when appealed to as evidence of one’s own goodness or as an excuse to ignore the need for God, are a testimony <em>not</em> to moral virtue and meritorious character but rather to a <em>continued state of rebellion against God</em>. It is an attempt to cover one’s own guilt and shame by the power of the flesh - i.e., our own hard work and self-effort - just as Adam and Eve did in the Garden of Eden. This is moralism, the attempt to fix and perfect oneself in the power of self, and it is antithetical to the gospel of grace.</p>

<p>This is an important point to grasp. Fallen man’s “good deeds”&nbsp;performed apart from God are, in reality, often self-serving and therefore not “good”&nbsp;at all. They allow unregenerate men and women to continue to hide and cover from God, suppressing the truth of their need for Him while pointing to their works and saying, “Look at all the good things I’ve done. I’m a morally good person.”</p>

<p>At least two things can be said in response to moralism.</p>

<h2>First, everyone thinks they are morally good.</h2>

<p>If there is one thing I have learned while working in law enforcement for 17 years, it is that most everyone thinks they are “basically good”&nbsp;in terms of morality - murderers, rapists, and child molesters included. Inmates convicted of horrendous crimes still manage to find a way to justify themselves in the sight of God and man. Even among convicted criminals there is a “code among thieves,”&nbsp;a list of do’s and don’ts, even a moral hierarchicalism, by which certain actions are judged more heinous than others and a rationalization of one’s own moralism becomes possible.</p>

<p>The petty thief points to the drug abuser and says, “I’m not like him, I’m basically good.”</p>

<p>The drug abuser points to the kidnapper and says, “I’m not like him, I’m basically good.”</p>

<p>The kidnapper points to the murderer and says, “I’m not like him, I’m basically good.”</p>

<p>The murderer points to the child molester and says, “I’m not like him, I’m basically good.”</p>

<p>Justifying ourselves by pointing to others is easy. But it isn’t criminals alone who are plagued by this mentality. It’s the average law-abiding citizen, as well. And in my experience, this type of moralism even impacts police officers, often at a deeper level. Moralism in general is more perceptible (and can be a greater danger) among those who work in the criminal justice system due to the simple fact that, every day, they are confronted with a corrupt aspect of society that others only see on TV. In the face of daily evil, it is easy for individuals involved in criminal justice to retreat to the state of mind that says, “I’m no criminal, that’s for sure. I’m basically a good person.”</p>

<p>Moralism can be one of the biggest obstacles to the gospel of grace.</p>

<h2>Second, goodness isn’t the issue; badness is.</h2>

<p>One of the mistakes of moralism is the assumption that good deeds counteract bad deeds. But this mindset misunderstands the concepts of law and justice.</p>

<p>To illustrate this,* imagine I pull you over for running a red light. In an attempt to avoid a ticket, you explain to me, “Sir, you don’t understand. You see, before I ran that red light, I stopped legally for 100 red lights. And after you let me go here, I’m planning on stopping legally for another 100 red lights. You see? My legal stops outweigh my illegal failures to stop. I’m basically a good driver. Therefore, I don’t deserve this ticket.”</p>

<p>Or what about the murderer who appears before a judge and says, “Your honor, I confess. I murdered that man. But you don’t understand. I have literally let <em>hundreds</em> of other people live! You see, your honor? My good deeds outweigh my bad. I’m basically a good person. Therefore, you should allow me to go free.”</p>

<p>We intuitively sense there is something wrong with these excuses. The problem is this:</p>

<p><em>You cannot make up for breaking the law by keeping the law; keeping the law is what you are supposed to do.</em></p>

<p>In other words, you don’t get a check in the mail or a get-out-of-jail-free card for being a law-abiding citizen. Obeying the law is the standard you are held to. The issue is <em>not</em> that we keep the law most of the time. The problem is that we break it on occasion. And when we do, we deserve to face the consequences of our actions.</p>

<p>The same goes for God’s law. Goodness is not the issue; badness is. The issue is <em>not</em> that we do what we are supposed to on occasion; the issue is that we have broken God’s law <em>many times over</em> in thought, word, and deed, and we stand before Him as condemned sinners worthy of punishment. In other words, we don’t get rewarded for keeping God’s law; <em>keeping God’s law is what we are supposed to do</em>. And justice requires that we be punished when we don’t.</p>

<p>This is why salvation <em>must</em> be by grace, and why any moralistic, works-oriented salvific system is doomed to failure. Paul says,</p>

<blockquote>
<p>For by grace you have been saved, through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast. (Eph. 2:8-9)</p>
</blockquote>

<p>You can’t make up for breaking the law by keeping the law. Keeping the law is what you are supposed to do. And when we appear before God, the appropriate attitude before the most holy, most perfect, most wise, most just Creator and Savior will not be a self-righteous moralism. I imagine God would look at us the same way the judge might look at the murderer who said, “Yeah, but I let hundreds of other people live!”&nbsp;and appropriately respond, “Depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness”&nbsp;(Matt. 7:23). Rather, our attitude should be one of humility, reverence, and gratitude, one that says, “God, have mercy on me, a sinner”&nbsp;(Luke 18:13). Again, Paul says,</p>

<blockquote>
<p>He saved us, not on the basis of deeds which we have done in righteousness, but according to His mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit. (Titus 3:5)</p>
</blockquote>

<p>Christ did for us what we cannot do for ourselves. He fulfilled the law in our place and suffered on the cross for our sin, bearing the wrath of God. This is the active and passive obedience of Christ in the atonement. This is the gospel of grace.</p>

<p>*Thanks to Kevin Lewis and Jim Wallace for these illustrations.</p>
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title: The Bible Supernaturally Changes Lives
topic: Christian Living
author: Alan Shlemon
date: 11/06/2018
source: https://www.str.org/w/the-bible-supernaturally-changes-lives
content:
            <div> 
		<p>One of the points I made at <a href="http://rethinkapologetics.com/" target="_blank">reTHINK</a> this past September was how the Bible supernaturally changes lives. I said that when people follow biblical teaching consistently, something radical and amazing happens: People are transformed, and this impacts them and those around them.</p>

<p>As I prepared to make this point in the weeks leading up to reTHINK, I learned about the story of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rachael_Denhollander" target="_blank">Rachael Denhollander</a>. She pursued a career in gymnastics as a young girl but, due to injury, needed to seek the help of a physician. Unfortunately, this led her to Larry Nassar, a doctor who was a sexual predator. Instead of helping and healing Rachael, this man sexually abused her. After Rachael reported the incident, another 250 girls eventually came forward and reported being abused by this same doctor.</p>

<p>But here’s the amazing part. Nassar was convicted of his crimes and sentenced to 175 years in prison. Just before his sentencing, his victims were given an opportunity to make a statement. Rachael Denhollander gave an amazing <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2018/01/24/us/rachael-denhollander-full-statement/index.html" target="_blank">speech</a>. I want to highlight <a href="https://youtu.be/-8jUCrPArHQ?t=1675">something she said</a> directly to him in the courtroom.</p>

<blockquote>
<p>In our early hearings, you brought your Bible into the courtroom, and you have spoken of praying for forgiveness. And so it is on that basis that I appeal to you. If you have read the Bible you carry, you know that the definition of sacrificial love portrayed is of God Himself loving so sacrificially that He gave up everything to pay a penalty for the sin He did not commit. By His grace, I, too, choose to love this way.</p>

<p>You spoke of praying for forgiveness. But Larry, if you have read the Bible you carry, you know forgiveness does not come from doing good things, as if good deeds can erase what you have done. It comes from repentance, which requires facing and acknowledging the truth about what you have done in all of its utter depravity and horror, without mitigation, without excuse, without acting as if good deeds can erase what you have seen in this courtroom today.</p>

<p>The Bible you carry says it is better for a millstone to be thrown around your neck and you thrown into a lake than for you to make even one child stumble. And you have damaged hundreds.</p>

<p>The Bible you speak carries a final judgment where all of God’s wrath and His eternal terror is poured out on men like you. Should you ever reach the point of truly facing what you have done, the guilt will be crushing. And that is what makes the gospel of Christ so sweet. Because it extends grace and hope and mercy where none should be found. And it will be there for you.</p>

<p>I pray you experience the soul-crushing weight of guilt so that you may someday experience true repentance and true forgiveness from God, which you need far more than forgiveness from me - though I extend that to you as well.</p>
</blockquote>

<p>Did you catch that? After being abused for years and scarred for life, she looks this sexual predator in the eye and says, “I forgive you.”&nbsp;How in the world does that happen? The answer is, it doesn’t. It’s other-worldly. Only through what she learned through Scripture and the transforming power of the Holy Spirit could someone who’s been hurt so deeply be able to offer such grace and forgiveness to a man who’s committed such horrific crimes against her. That’s one example of how we know the Bible supernaturally changes lives.</p>
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title: Does the Bible Depict Two Different Gods?
topic: Theology
author: Tim Barnett
date: 10/18/2018
source: https://www.str.org/w/does-the-bible-depict-two-different-gods-
content:
            <div> 
		<p>Many people see the Bible as a tale of two different gods: the <em>gracious God</em> of the New Testament and the <em>moral Monster</em> in the Old Testament.</p>

<p>In his book <em>Farewell to God</em>, Christian-evangelist-turned-agnostic Charles Templeton had this to say:</p>

<blockquote>
<p>The God of the Old Testament is utterly unlike the God believed in by most practicing Christians. He is an all-too-human deity with the human failings, weaknesses, and passions of men - but on a grand scale. His justice is, by modern standards, outrageous, and his prejudices are deep-seated and inflexible. He is biased, querulous, vindictive, and jealous of his prerogatives.</p>
</blockquote>

<p>Some Christians are quite happy to accept a God who is gracious and merciful, but balk at the idea that God could be violent and wrathful. They, too, see different gods portrayed in the Old and New Testaments. As a result, they are forced to <em>explain away</em> the verses that don’t fit their preconceived ideas.</p>

<p>For example, in <em>Sinners in the Hands of a Loving God</em>, pastor Brian Zahnd writes,</p>

<blockquote>
<p>If we don’t want a monstrous God who occasionally commands genocide, and if we don’t want a malleable God who is slowly mutating away from a violent past, how do we view the Old Testament?</p>

<p>Something like this: The Old Testament is the inspired telling of the story of Israel coming to know their God. It’s a process. God doesn’t evolve, but Israel’s understanding of God obviously does. If the revelation of God is perfectly depicted in the Pentateuch, why follow the story line of Scripture into the Prophets, Gospels and Epistles? It seems obvious that we should accept that as Israel was in the process of receiving the revelation of Yahweh, some unavoidable assumptions were made. One of the assumptions was that Yahweh shared the violent attributes of other deities worshipped in the ancient Near East.</p>
</blockquote>

<p>Please don’t miss what Zahnd is saying. Zahnd agrees with Templeton that the Testaments are <em>depicting</em> two different gods. Rather than deny that God has changed, Zahnd takes a different approach. He asserts that the Old Testament representation of God in the Scriptures is in error. After all, it is based on false “unavoidable assumptions.”&nbsp;In other words, the Old Testament authors <em>assumed</em> God was wrathful, but they were wrong.</p>

<p>On this view, the Old Testament is not just an <em>inferior</em> revelation of God; it’s an <em>incorrect</em> revelation of God. For example, God never commanded Israel to stone adulterers. Moses only <em>thought</em> that was what God wanted. But he was mistaken.</p>

<p>This is a distorted view of what theologians refer to as <em>progressive revelation.</em> These folks believe the revelation of God in the Bible moves from <em>less true</em> in the Old Testament to <em>more true</em> in the New Testament. However, a proper understanding of progressive revelation is that Scripture moves from <em>less clear</em> to <em>more clear</em>.</p>

<p>I will have much more to say in response to Zahnd’s view in the coming weeks. For now, let’s establish a fundamental truth about God: <em>He does not change.</em></p>

<h2>God Does Not Change</h2>

<p>Theologians refer to God’s unchangeableness as <em>divine immutability</em>. And this doctrine is clearly taught in Scripture. For example, God speaking through the prophet Malachi says,</p>

<blockquote>
<p>For I the Lord do not change; therefore you, O children of Jacob, are not consumed. (Malachi 3:6)</p>
</blockquote>

<p>Speaking of God’s nature, the psalmist David writes,</p>

<blockquote>
<p>Of old You laid the foundation of the earth, and the heavens are the work of Your hands. <em>They will perish, but You will remain</em>; they will all wear out like a garment. You will change them like a robe, and they will pass away, <em>but You are the same, and Your years have no end.”</em>&nbsp;(Psalm 102:25-27)</p>
</blockquote>

<p>God’s nature doesn’t change, nor does His mind:</p>

<blockquote>
<p>God is not man, that He should lie, or a son of man, that He should change his mind. Has He said, and will He not do it? Or has He spoken, and will He not fulfill it? (Numbers 23:19)</p>
</blockquote>

<p>In the New Testament, James writes, “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, <em>with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change”</em>&nbsp;(James 1:17).</p>

<p>God’s immutability has practical consequences. Because God’s character is immutable, His attributes are unchanging. For example, His faithfulness stands.</p>

<blockquote>
<p>Your faithfulness endures to all generations; You have established the earth, and it stands fast (Psalm 119:90).</p>
</blockquote>

<p>We sing about the immutability of God without even realizing it. Nearly a century ago, Thomas Chisholm wrote these powerful words:</p>

<blockquote>
<p>Great is Thy faithfulness, O God my Father,</p>

<p>There is no shadow of turning with Thee;</p>

<p>Thou changest not, Thy compassions, they fail not</p>

<p>As Thou hast been Thou forever wilt be.</p>
</blockquote>

<p>That’s God’s immutability.</p>

<p>So, the God described in the Old Testament is the same God described in the New Testament.</p>

<p>True, the Old Testament paints a graphic picture of a God who is violent and wrathful. But it <em>also</em> paints a picture of a God who is gracious and merciful. In fact, these attributes are often inseparably interwoven <a href="https://www.str.org/blog/downplaying-gods-wrath">within the same texts.</a></p>

<p>Similarly, the New Testament paints a picture of a God who is gentle and compassionate. Jesus, the exact representation of God, says:</p>

<blockquote>
<p>Come to Me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you, and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy, and My burden is light. (Matt. 11:28-30)</p>
</blockquote>

<p>Yet, even gentle Jesus has wrath for the prophetess Jezebel because she refused to repent of her sexual immorality. Jesus says,</p>

<blockquote>
<p>Behold, <em>I will throw her onto a sickbed,</em> and those who commit adultery with her <em>I will throw into great tribulation</em>, unless they repent of her works, and <em>I will strike her children dead.</em> And all the churches will know that I am He who searches mind and heart, and I will give to each of you according to your works. (Rev. 2:22-23)</p>
</blockquote>

<p>Both of these truths must be held together if we are to communicate a <em>consistent</em> picture of what God is like. We don’t get to choose which attributes of God we are going to accept. We don’t get to vote on it. No, only God can tell us what He is like. God speaks; we listen.</p>
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title: Are You Afraid Loving God with Your Mind Will Crowd Out Your Heart?
topic: Christian Living
author: Amy K. Hall
date: 11/08/2018
source: https://www.str.org/w/are-you-afraid-loving-god-with-your-mind-will-crowd-out-your-heart-
content:
            <div> 
		<p>A while back, a Christian friend emailed me with a challenge to Christianity that was troubling her. I gladly answered her question, and she thanked me and responded,</p>

<blockquote>
<p>I think I thought I could avoid apologetics and just tuck away these types of questions that creep into my mind and assume that someone out there has an answer for them. Yes, I am still someone who cringes when I hear some apologists speak, because I think that somehow the “love the Lord your God with all your mind”&nbsp;is crowding out the heart and soul parts.</p>
</blockquote>

<p>This is a very common objection to apologetics - the fear that apologetics will somehow stifle your love for God,* but I think it reflects a misunderstanding of people and God’s gifts in general.</p>

<p>I know a lot of apologists. I have one apologist friend who demanded I debate his arguments against my claim that I disliked <em>Star Wars: Attack of the Clones</em>, and I know other ones like Gary Habermas who move me to tears with their emotional words about Jesus. What I’ve discovered is that this all has to do with innate personality. People are worried that if they study apologetics they’ll end up like [fill in the blank], when in reality, it just isn’t going to change your personality. Instead, the information will be filtered through your own personality and used for everyone’s benefit in your unique way.</p>

<p>In the case of apologetics, you see a lot of one type of personality (logical, reasoning, persuasive) because those are the gifts that tend to make a person interested in apologetics. In other words, it’s not the using of apologetics that makes a person have an emphasis on logic and analysis; it’s the person who already has an emphasis on logic and analysis who is drawn to apologetics. (Note here that I’m happy to say I think the apologist stereotype is changing somewhat as more and more people get involved in using apologetics to meet the needs of their family and friends. See what Natasha Crain had to say about this <a href="https://www.str.org/blog/why-arent-more-women-interested-apologetics#.W-NtynpKijQ">here</a>.)</p>

<p>Because of their special gifts and the corresponding personality traits, apologists of the type described above generally have to be more deliberate about developing and communicating the “heart”&nbsp;part of loving God (if by “heart”&nbsp;you mean artistic, emotional, right-brained approaches). But trust me, they’re passionate about God; they just express it in a different way - the way God created them to express it for the good of all.</p>

<p>Different hearts are drawn to different aspects of God’s character. I know that my heart rejoices when it meditates on apologetics, and I’m often moved to worship as I’m studying. To those who have a very different gift - perhaps of mercy - this might sound unbelievable. They know only the joy of their own gift and think deep down that their service, since they’re blessed so incredibly through it, must be the true way of communing with God.</p>

<p>In the same way, I think apologists sometimes forget that not everyone “feels God’s pleasure”&nbsp;just by talking about apologetics, so they don’t think to mention the fulfillment and closeness to God it brings for them. They just assume everyone is experiencing it! But those who are not experiencing it may not realize it’s present at all, leaving the impression that <a href="https://www.str.org/blog/do-you-convey-sense-your-love-jesus-your-apologetics#.W-NvU3pKijQ">no heart is involved</a>.</p>

<p>We make the mistake sometimes of thinking everyone will be as fulfilled by our specific gifts as we are, forgetting that we’re created for different purposes. I too often see people trying to get others to join them in their particular “most important”&nbsp;gift, but what we really need is to realize that <em>all</em> the gifts are valid and to rejoice in the diversity that makes up the whole, <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1+cor+12&amp;version=NASB">healthy Body</a>, understanding that each person is most blessed (and most blesses others) by fulfilling his <em>own</em> gifts. Let’s appreciate each other, men and women, and smile and thank God whenever we’re bemused by someone enjoying God in ways we can’t understand, in areas in which we don’t have the least bit of interest. Thank God there’s someone to take care of each kind of thing - <em>and</em> find joy in it! You need not fear that benefiting from another’s gift will cause you to enjoy your own less.</p>

<p>So make use of your local apologists - God has raised them up to help you just as He raised you up in your gifts to help them.</p>

<p>*I do think it <em>can</em> stifle your love for God if the time you spend on apologetics causes you to neglect the ordinary means of communing personally with Him that He’s provided for us (e.g., prayer, praise, repentance, Bible reading, fellowship with other believers, etc. - see <a href="https://www.str.org/blog/apologetics-aren-t-enough-to-connect-you-with-a-person#.W-NpIHpKijQ">here</a> for more on this).</p>
</div>

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title: The Bible: Reading the “Ordinary” Way
topic: Theology
author: Greg Koukl
date: 11/01/2018
source: https://www.str.org/w/the-bible-reading-the-ordinary-way
content:
            <div> 
		<p>I never like the question “Do you take the Bible literally?”&nbsp;It comes up with some frequency, and it deserves a response. But I think it’s an ambiguous—and, therefore, confusing—question, making it awkward to answer.</p>

<p>Clearly, even those with a high view of Scripture don’t take <em>everything</em> literally. Jesus is the “door,”&nbsp;but He’s not made of wood. We are the “branches,”&nbsp;but we’re not sprouting leaves.</p>

<p>On the other hand, we do take <em>seriously</em> accounts that others find fanciful and far-fetched: a man made from mud (Adam), loaves and fishes miraculously multiplied, vivified corpses rising from graves, etc.</p>

<p>A short “yes”&nbsp;or “no”&nbsp;response to the “Do you take the Bible literally?”&nbsp;question, then, would not be helpful. Neither answer gives the full picture. In fact, I think it’s the wrong question since frequently something else is driving the query.</p>

<h2>Taking “Literally”&nbsp;Literally</h2>

<p>Let’s start with a definition. According to the <em>New Oxford American Dictionary</em>, the word “literal”&nbsp;means “taking words in their usual or most basic sense without metaphor or allegory, free from exaggeration or distortion.”&nbsp;Why do people balk at this common-sense notion when it comes to the Bible or, more precisely, certain passages in the Bible?</p>

<p>Let’s face it, even non-Christians read the Bible in its “usual or most basic sense”&nbsp;most of the time on points that are not controversial. They readily take statements like “Love your neighbor as yourself”&nbsp;or “Remember the poor”&nbsp;at face value. When citing Jesus’&nbsp;directive “Do not judge,”&nbsp;they’re not deterred by the challenge “You don’t take the Bible literally, do you?”</p>

<p>No, when critics agree with the point of a passage, they take the words in their ordinary and customary sense. They naturally understand that language works a certain way in everyday communication, and it never occurs to them to think otherwise.</p>

<p>Unless, of course, the details of the text trouble them for some reason.</p>

<p>What of the opening chapters of Genesis? Is this a straightforward account describing historical events the way they actually happened? Were Adam and Eve real people, the first human beings? Was Adam created from dirt? Did Eve really come from Adam’s rib? Did Jonah actually survive three days in the belly of a great fish? Did a virgin really have a baby? Such claims seem so fanciful to many people, it’s hard for them to take the statements at face value.</p>

<p>Other times, the critic simply does not like what he reads. He abandons the “literal”&nbsp;approach when he comes across something in the text that offends his own philosophical, theological, or moral sensibilities. Jesus the only way of salvation? No way. Homosexuality a sin? Please. A “loving”&nbsp;God sending anyone to the eternal torment of Hell? Not a chance.</p>

<p>Notice the objection to these teachings is not based on some ambiguity in the text that makes alternate interpretations plausible. The Scripture affirms these truths with the very same clarity as “Love your neighbor.”&nbsp;No, these verses simply offend. Suddenly, the critic becomes a skeptic and sniffs, “You don’t take the Bible <em>literally</em>, do you?”</p>

<p>This subtle double standard, I think, is usually at the heart of the taking-the-Bible-literally challenge. Sometimes the ruse is hard to unravel.</p>

<p>An example might be helpful here.</p>

<h2>Literal vs. Lateral</h2>

<p>In the Law of Moses, homosexual activity was punishable by death (Lev. 18:22 and 20:13). Therefore (the charge often goes), any Christian who takes the Bible literally must advocate the execution of homosexuals.</p>

<p>Of course, the strategy with this move is obvious: If we don’t promote executing homosexuals, we can’t legitimately condemn their behavior, since both details are in the Bible. If we don’t take the Bible literally in the first case, we shouldn’t in the second case, either. That’s being inconsistent.</p>

<p>How do we escape the horns of this dilemma? By using care and precision with our definitions, that’s how.</p>

<p>Here’s our first question: When Moses wrote the Law, did he expect the Jewish people to take those regulations literally? If you’re not sure how to answer, let me ask it another way. When an ordinance is passed in your local state (California, in my case), do you think the legislators intend its citizens to understand the words of the regulations “in their usual or most basic sense without metaphor or allegory, free from exaggeration or distortion”?</p>

<p>Of course they do. Legal codes are not written in figurative language allowing each citizen to get creative with the meaning. The same would be true for the Mosaic Law. Moses meant it the way he wrote it.</p>

<p>But now, it seems, we’re stuck on the other horn of the dilemma. To be consistent, shouldn’t we currently campaign for the death penalty for homosexuals? For that matter, aren’t we obliged to promote execution for disobedient children and Sabbath-breakers, both capital crimes under the Law?</p>

<p>The simple answer is no. Here’s why. Even when a biblical command is intended to be understood <em>literally</em>, that does not mean it is intended to be applied <em>laterally</em>, so to speak—that is, universally across the board to all peoples at all times in all places.</p>

<p>Consider this situation: Jesus told Peter to cast his net in deep water (Luke 5:4). That’s exactly what Peter did because he took Jesus’&nbsp;command literally, in its ordinary sense. He had no reason to think otherwise. However, even though Jesus’&nbsp;command to Peter was <em>literal</em>, that does not mean the same command applies <em>laterally</em> to everyone else. <em>We’re</em> not obligated to cast nets into deep water just because Peter was.</p>

<p>Here’s another way of looking at it. California legal codes are to be <em>read</em> literally, but not <em>applied</em> laterally. They only apply to those in California and have no application to people in other states. Its laws have local, literal application within its own borders, but no lateral application elsewhere.</p>

<p>In the same way, the words of the Mosaic Law, like those of all laws, are to be taken at face value by anyone who reads them. Yet only those under its jurisdiction are obliged to obey its precepts.<sup id="fnref:1"><a href="#fn:1">1</a></sup></p>

<p>The Jews in the theocracy were expected to obey the legal code God gave them, including the prohibition of and punishment for homosexuality. It was not the legal code God gave to Gentiles, however. Therefore, even if the words of the Mosaic Law were to be taken literally by those under the jurisdiction of that code, this does not mean that in our current circumstances we are governed by the details of the provisions of that Law.</p>

<p>A clarification is necessary here. Am I saying that nothing written in the Mosaic Law is ever applicable to Christians or other Gentiles or that there are no universal moral obligations that humanity shares with the Jews of Moses’&nbsp;time? No, I’m not saying that.</p>

<p>Though Moses gave legal statutes for Jews living in the Jewish state, that Law in some cases still reflects moral universals that have application for those outside the nation of Israel. As I have written elsewhere:</p>

<blockquote>
<p>Perversion is still perverse, and wickedness is still wrong, whether it be adultery, rape, incest, or bestiality—or any of a number of evil acts all condemned by Moses in the “old”&nbsp;Law.<sup id="fnref:2"><a href="#fn:2">2</a></sup></p>
</blockquote>

<p>So yes, we can glean wisdom and moral guidance from the Law of Moses for our own legal codes, but there are limits. Working out those details is a different discussion, however. <sup id="fnref:3"><a href="#fn:3">3</a></sup></p>

<p>The question here is not whether we <em>take</em> the Mosaic Law literally, but whether we are now <em>under</em> that legal code. We are not. That law was meant for Jews living under a theocracy defined by their unique covenant with God. Simply because a directive appears in the Mosaic Law does not, <em>by that fact alone</em>, make it obligatory for those living outside of Israel’s commonwealth.</p>

<p>Americans are a mixture of peoples in a representative republic governed by a different set of decrees than the Jews under Moses. We are not obliged to obey everything that came down from Sinai. Even though it was commanded of the Jews, that does not necessarily mean it is commanded of us. If anyone thinks otherwise, he is duty-bound to take his net and cast it into deep water.</p>

<p>That confusion aside, we’re still faced with our original question: When do we take the Bible literally?</p>

<h2>Reading the “Ordinary”&nbsp;Way</h2>

<p>Here’s how I would lay the groundwork for an answer. If I’m asked if I take the Bible literally, I would say I think that’s the wrong question. I’d say instead that I take the Bible in its <em>ordinary</em> sense; that is, I try to take the things recorded there with the precision it seems the writer intended.</p>

<p>I realize this reply might also be a bit ambiguous, but here, I think, that’s a strength. Hopefully, my comment will prompt a request for clarification. This is exactly what I want. I’d clarify by countering with a question: “Do you read the <em>sports pag</em>e literally?”</p>

<p>If I asked you this question, I think you’d pause because there is a sense in which everyone reads the sports page in a <em>straightforward</em> way. Certain factual information is part of every story in that section. However, you wouldn’t take everything written in a woodenly literal way that ignores the conventions of the craft.</p>

<p>“<em>Literally</em>?”&nbsp;you might respond. “That depends. If the writer seems to be stating a fact—like a score, a location, a player’s name, a description of the plays leading to a touchdown—then I’d take that as literal. If he seems to be using a figure of speech, then I’d read his statement that way, figuratively, not literally.”</p>

<p>Exactly. Sportswriters use a particular style to communicate the details of athletic contests clearly. They choose precise (and sometimes imaginative) words and phrases to convey a solid sense of the particulars in an entertaining way.</p>

<p>Sportswriters routinely use words like “annihilated,”&nbsp;“crushed,”&nbsp;“mangled,”&nbsp;“mutilated,”&nbsp;“stomped,”&nbsp;and “pounded,”&nbsp;yet no one speculates about literal meanings. Readers don’t scratch their heads wondering if cannibalism was involved when they read “the Los Angeles Angels devoured the Houston Astros.”</p>

<p>We recognize such constructions as figures of speech used to communicate in colorful ways events that actually (“literally”) took place. In fact, we never give those details a second thought because we understand how language works.</p>

<p>When a writer seems to be communicating facts in a straightforward fashion, we read them as such. When we encounter obvious figures of speech, we take them that way, too.</p>

<p>That’s the normal way to read the sports page. It’s also the normal—and responsible—way to read any work, including the Bible. Always ask, “What is this writer trying to communicate?”&nbsp;This is exactly what I’m after when I say, “I take the Bible in its ordinary sense.”</p>

<p>Of course, some people may differ on what point the text of the Bible is actually making. Fair enough. There’s nothing dishonest about honest disagreement. They might have reasons to think some Christian is mistaken on the meaning of the text. Misinterpretation is always possible. However, conjuring up some meaning that has little to do with the words the writer used is not a legitimate alternative.</p>

<p>If people disagree with the obvious sense of a passage, ask them for the reasons they think the text should be an exception to the otherwise sound “ordinary sense”&nbsp;rule. Their answer will tell you if their challenge is intellectually honest, or if they’re just trying to dismiss biblical claims they simply don’t like.</p>

<h2>Two Thoughts on Metaphor</h2>

<p>Reading any writing the ordinary way requires we understand two points about figurative speech, both implicit in the concept of metaphor.</p>

<p>The <em>New Oxford American Dictionary</em> defines metaphor as “a figure of speech in which a word or phrase is applied to an object or action to which it is not literally applicable...a thing regarded as representative or symbolic of something else.”&nbsp;So, metaphors take one meaning of a word and then creatively leverage it into another meaning to make an impact on a reader.</p>

<p>Here is the first point to be clear on: All metaphors (or other forms of figurative writing) rely <em>first</em> on literal definitions <em>before</em> they can be of any use as figures of speech. All words must first be understood in their “usual or most basic sense”&nbsp;before they can be used figuratively.</p>

<p>We find, for example, the word “shepherd”&nbsp;prominently featured in the 23rd Psalm. Do you see that we must first understand the literal meaning of “shepherd”&nbsp;before the phrase “the Lord is my shepherd”&nbsp;has any figurative power?</p>

<p>This point is critical for accurate biblical interpretation. Here’s why.</p>

<p>Sometimes we attempt to solve interpretive problems by digging through a Bible dictionary. This can be a helpful place to start since all figurative language relies in some way on dictionary definitions. But the dictionary cannot be the final word because it can never tell you what use a specific writer is making of any particular word or phrase.</p>

<p>Strictly speaking, no word standing alone can be a metaphor. Words can only be used metaphorically when they’re embedded in a context. Therefore, it makes no sense to ask of a solitary word, “Is the word meant literally?”&nbsp;because the word standing on its own gives no indication.</p>

<p>Dictionaries, by definition, can only deal with words in isolation. Other things—context, genre, flow of thought, etc.—determine if the word’s literal sense is being applied in a non-literal way, symbolically “regarded as representative”&nbsp;of something else.</p>

<p>Take two sentences: “The sunshine streamed through my window,”&nbsp;and, “Sweetheart, you are a ray of sunshine to me this morning.”&nbsp;Sunshine’s literal <em>meaning</em> is the same in each case. However, it is <em>used</em> literally in the first sentence but metaphorically in the second. Further, unless my wife understands the literal meaning of “sunshine,”&nbsp;she will never understand the compliment I’m offering her in a poetic sort of way.</p>

<p>So first, literal definitions must be in place before a word can be used figuratively. Second, metaphors are always meant to <em>clarify</em>, not <em>obscure</em>.</p>

<p>There’s a sense in which figurative speech drives an author’s meaning home in ways that words taken in the ordinary way could never do. “All good allegory,”&nbsp;C.S. Lewis notes, “exists not to hide, but to reveal, to make the inner world more palpable by giving it an (imagined) concrete embodiment.”<sup id="fnref:4"><a href="#fn:4">4</a></sup></p>

<p>Figurative speech communicates literal truth in a more precise and powerful way than ordinary language can on its own. The strictly literal comment “Honey, your presence makes me feel good today”&nbsp;doesn’t pack the punch that the “sunshine”&nbsp;figure provides. The metaphor makes my precise point more powerfully than “words in their usual or most basic sense”&nbsp;could accomplish.</p>

<p>Remember, even when metaphor is in play, <em>some literal message is always intended</em>. Hell may not have literal flames,<sup id="fnref:5"><a href="#fn:5">5</a></sup> but the reality is at least as gruesome, ergo the figure.</p>

<p>Once again, it’s always right to ask, “What is the <em>precise meaning</em> the writer is trying to communicate with his colorful language?”&nbsp;But how do we do that? Here I have a suggestion.</p>

<h2>The Most Important Thing</h2>

<p>If there is one bit of wisdom, one rule of thumb, one useful tip I can offer to help you solve the riddle of scriptural meaning, it’s this: Never read a Bible verse. That’s right, never read a Bible <em>verse</em>. Instead, always read a <em>paragraph</em>—at least.</p>

<p>On the radio, I use this simple rule to help me answer the majority of Bible questions I’m asked, even when I’m not familiar with the particular passage. When I quickly survey the paragraph containing the verse in question, the larger context almost always provides the information I need to help me understand what’s going on.</p>

<p>This works because of a basic rule of all communication: Meaning flows from the top down, from the larger units to the smaller units. The key to the meaning of any verse comes from the paragraph, not just from the individual words.</p>

<p>Here’s how it works. First, get the big picture. Look at the broader context of the book. What type of writing is it? History? Poetry? Proverb? Letter? Different genres have different standards for reading them—obviously.</p>

<p>Next, stand back from the verse and look for breaks in the passage that identify major units of thought. Then ask yourself, “What in this paragraph or group of paragraphs gives any clue to the meaning of the verse in question? In general, what idea is being developed? <em>What is the flow of thought?”</em></p>

<p>With the larger context now in view, you can narrow your focus and speculate on the meaning of the verse itself. When you come up with something that seems right, sum it up in your own words. Finally—and this step is critical—see if your paraphrase—your summary—makes sense when inserted in place of the verse in the passage.</p>

<p>I call this “the paraphrase principle.”&nbsp;Replace the text in question with your paraphrase and see if the passage still makes sense in light of the larger context. Is it intelligible when inserted back into the paragraph? Does it dovetail naturally with the bigger picture? If it doesn’t, you know you’re on the wrong track.</p>

<p>This technique will immediately weed out interpretations that are obviously erroneous. It’s not a foolproof <em>positive</em> test for accuracy since some faulty interpretations could still be coherent in the context. However, it is a reliable <em>negative</em> test, quickly eliminating alternatives that don’t fit the flow of thought.</p>

<p>If you will begin to do these two things—read the context carefully and apply the paraphrase principle—you will radically improve the accuracy of your interpretations. Remember, meaning always flows from the larger units to the smaller units. Without the bigger picture, you’ll likely be lost.</p>

<p>Don’t forget the rule: Never read a Bible verse. Always read a paragraph, at least, if you want to be confident you’re getting the right meaning of the verse.</p>

<p>Do I take the Bible literally? I try to take it at its plain meaning unless I have some good reason to do otherwise. This is the basic rule we apply to everything we read: novels, newspapers, periodicals, and poems. It’s reading the “ordinary”&nbsp;way. I don’t see why the Bible should be any different.</p>

<aside class="footnotes">
<hr>
<ol>
	<li id="fn:1">This principle is critical to understanding the role of Old Testament Law in New Testament times. <a class="reversefootnote" href="#fnref:1">&nbsp;↩</a></li>
	<li id="fn:2">See Gregory Koukl and Alan Shlemon, “<a href="/w/the-reformation-the-church-doesn-t-need">A Reformation the Church Doesn’t Need: Answering Revisionist Pro-Gay Theology—Part I</a>,”&nbsp;available at str.org. <a class="reversefootnote" href="#fnref:2">&nbsp;↩</a></li>
	<li id="fn:3">For the record, I think the immorality of homosexuality is one of those universal moral laws since, among other reasons, it’s identified in the New Testament as wrong irrespective of the Mosaic Law (e.g., Rom. 1:27). <a class="reversefootnote" href="#fnref:3">&nbsp;↩</a></li>
	<li id="fn:4">C.S. Lewis, <em>The Pilgrim’s Regress</em>, “Afterword to Third Edition,”&nbsp;(Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1958), 208. <a class="reversefootnote" href="#fnref:4">&nbsp;↩</a></li>
	<li id="fn:5">In more than one instance, Jesus described Hell as “outer darkness”&nbsp;(e.g., Matt. 8:12) and literal flames give light. <a class="reversefootnote" href="#fnref:5">&nbsp;↩</a></li>
</ol>
</aside>
</div>

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title: Does Gender Identity Matter?
topic: Sexuality and Gender
author: Alan Shlemon
date: 11/01/2018
source: https://www.str.org/w/does-gender-identity-matter-
content:
            <div> 
		<p>Facebook occasionally prompts me to update my profile. Among the categories I can revise is my gender. Besides the obvious male and female options, there is a “custom”&nbsp;option. From there, I can choose from one of <em>56 additional genders</em>. That’s right. I can identify with one of 58 total genders. Some of the options include “transsexual,”&nbsp;“genderqueer,”&nbsp;“non-binary,”&nbsp;“pangender,”&nbsp;“androgynous,”&nbsp;“gender questioning,”&nbsp;or “two-spirit.”</p>

<p>The fact that I’m incredulous about this development (which I know is not a new development), already has earned me the label “intolerant.”&nbsp;I’ve read I’m old-fashioned, a traditionalist, or - worse - a backwards-thinking religious zealot.</p>

<p>What is gender? Is it malleable? How should Christians think about this subject? Scripture makes two key points. First, Scripture teaches that God made human beings in only two sexes: male and female (Gen. 1:27; 2:23-24). The creation account is predicated on the duality (only two) and the complementarity (different, but function together) of the two sexes.</p>

<p>Second, Scripture teaches that our gender identity (our psychological belief about what gender we are) should follow our biological sex. Since there are only two sexes, there are only two options. If we’re born biologically male, we should identify as male. If we’re born biologically female, we should identify as female.</p>

<p>What Scripture says, however, does not deny the reality that many people experience a range of psychological beliefs about their gender identity. Of course some biological males perceive their psychological experience to be female. Of course some biological females perceive their internal state as both female and male. Of course there is tremendous variation in how people experience their gender identity. God is not surprised by this reality.</p>

<p>He does, however, anticipate the tendency of some people to accept the incongruence of their biology and gender identity as “who they are.”&nbsp;That’s why when Scripture talks about people crossing gender boundaries (e.g., a biological male who attempts to take on a female gender identity), it describes it in a negative light. For example, the Mosaic Law states, “A woman shall not wear man’s clothing, nor shall a man put on a woman’s clothing; for whoever does these things is an abomination to the Lord your God”&nbsp;(Deut. 22:5). God made men and women different and laid down this law to maintain the distinction between the two sexes.</p>

<p>The New Testament also addresses this matter. The Apostle Paul - inspired by the Holy Spirit - cautions the Corinthian church from accepting unrighteous activities including “effeminate”&nbsp;behavior (1 Cor. 6:9-10). This word is translated from the Greek word <em>malakoi</em>, which literally means “soft men.”&nbsp;It refers to men who act like women through their mannerisms, dress, makeup, and sometimes even through castration. Paul, as if predicting what the Church will face in our generation, warns that some believers will be deceived into thinking that crossing gender boundaries is no big deal. Indeed, there are now even “Christian”&nbsp;organizations that affirm such beliefs, which is why this topic is essential to understand.</p>

<p>But let me offer an important clarification here. If you’re male, this does <em>not</em> mean you must model yourself after the typical 21st-century American male. Many of our gender stereotypes come from society (movies, fashion, school, and our peers) and are <em>not</em> biblical. For example, if you’re a male and you don’t like football, fast cars, and french fries, it doesn’t mean you’re not manly. If you prefer art or playing the flute, you’re still a man and not any less of a man.</p>

<p>Likewise with being female. If you don’t like shopping, sappy chick flicks, or pedicures, that’s not a problem. If you prefer sports or going to the gun range, you’re no less a female. You are not required to follow the gender-typical norms created by culture to qualify as a woman. <em>God</em> is our Creator. His <em>Word</em> is our guide. We should take our cues from <em>Him</em>.</p>

<p>Scripture’s directive, therefore, is not about following American gender-typical activities or roles, but about which gender you identity with - whether you actually believe you’re a male or female. That’s what God is concerned with.</p>

<p>People who identify with a gender that’s different from their biology (e.g., who identify as transgender) aren’t necessarily doing it to be trendy (though some admit they do), but are often deeply confused about who they are. Often they experience severe psychological and emotional distress. Tragically, 41% of transgender people attempt to commit suicide (compared to 1.6% of the general population). In other words, though believers are rightly concerned about countering false cultural messages about gender identity, we need to be equally compassionate about those who are deeply hurting inside. They need our friendship, love, and care. Most importantly, they need the gospel - like every other person on this planet.</p>
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title: Update on Melinda’s Progress
topic: Announcements
author: Greg Koukl
date: 10/17/2018
source: https://www.str.org/w/update-on-melinda-s-progress
content:
            <div> 
		<p><em>[See <a href="/w/urgent-prayer-request-for-melinda">here</a> for information about Melinda’s accident and <a href="/w/keep-praying-for-melinda">here</a> for links to previous updates.]</em></p>

<p>It’s been a while since our last update on Melinda’s progress, mostly because there’s not been much improvement in the 10 months since her accident on December 2. But that has changed recently, so I wanted to let you in on the latest developments since there are some big things to report.</p>

<p>Here are two entries that Melinda’s sister, Cathy, posted in Melinda’s <a href="https://www.caringbridge.org/visit/melindapenner/journal">CaringBridge journal</a>.</p>

<blockquote>
<p>Oct. 6: Today’s visit to my sister feels momentous and like the beginning of a new phase in her recovery. She gave me a BIG smile when I arrived this morning - a first! She was alert, holding her iPad, watching videos, turning her head to the left (she’s been looking right for many months), and listening and watching everyone who came in her room. Several staff people came in to comment on her improvement. Best of all, as I was leaving and said, “I love you,”&nbsp;she very clearly mouthed, “I love you”&nbsp;back! As clear as can be! Thanks and glory to God for answering so many prayers!</p>
</blockquote>

<p>And then, a few days later she wrote this.</p>

<blockquote>
<p>Oct. 11: I’m so thankful to be able to share that Melinda’s progress is continuing. Two days ago she put Chapstick on by herself and tried a hat on that I brought for her. She used both hands to put it on and then let me know she didn’t like it!...She continues to mouth words and is trying really hard to communicate. Today with Amy, her cognitive therapist, she was whispering/mouthing words, when her RT [Respiratory Therapist] for the day asked if she wanted him to put in a speaking tube - DUH! We didn’t even know that was possible! So he did and she and Melinda had a conversation! I wasn’t there, but am excited to get there tomorrow after work! This all is such an answer to prayer!</p>
</blockquote>

<p>As you can see, this is fabulous news - the most improvement we’ve seen in 10 months! Please keep praying for Melinda. Also, her birthday is coming up on October 31, and Cathy has requested that people send her birthday cards. You can send them to the STR office (1438 E. 33rd St., Signal Hill, CA 90755) or to the address Cathy posted on the <a href="https://www.caringbridge.org/visit/melindapenner/journal">CaringBridge site</a>.</p>

<p>We’re all so encouraged by this news. I hope you are, too.</p>
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title: If Kids Don’t Understand Why Miracles Don’t Discredit the Bible, Their Faith Will Be Easily Crushed
topic: Tactics and Tools
author: Natasha Crain
date: 10/23/2018
source:
https://www.str.org/w/if-kids-don-t-understand-why-miracles-don-t-discredit-the-bible-their-faith-will-be-easily-crushed

content:
            <div> 
		<p><em>“The light of common sense, thrown on the stories of making snakes out of rods, of the Red Sea dividing itself, of Christ’s making wine from water, curing blind men by rubbing spit in their eyes, walking on water, the story of the flood, God’s making the world in six days, of making a woman from Adam’s rib and all the mythical, miraculous stories of the Bible would cause any sensible man to question the veracity of the whole book, including all the stories of the gods, spirits, angels, devils, and the things that common sense tells us are not true.”</em></p>

<p>This quote, from a website devoted to atheism, is similar to so many I have received from skeptics over the years. The basic claim is this: <em>Christianity defies common sense.</em></p>

<p>In other words, the very existence of miracle claims in the Bible immediately discredits it.</p>

<p>While there certainly are many Christians and skeptics engaging in deeper, more scientific or philosophical battles online, simplistic appeals to common sense are the down-and-dirty weapons often hurled through social media. You don’t need to know one thing about logic, theology, history, biblical scholarship, philosophy, or science to cobble together an emotionally impactful statement that can make someone feel utterly stupid for what they believe. That’s why appeals to common sense can be so powerful: They’re easy and effective. The general message is that what Christians believe is so ridiculous, anyone with just a little common sense can see it’s not true.</p>

<p>Common sense is presented as a one-size-fits-all bulldozer against faith.</p>

<p>And if your kids haven’t been trained to think critically about the nature of miracles, their faith will be easily crushed by that bulldozer.</p>

<p>Here’s a 10-step framework to help your kids think well about this subject. Each point builds on the last. You can easily use these brief explanations to discuss a point each day on the way to school or at the dinner table.</p>

<h2>1. Just because something sounds crazy, that doesn’t mean it’s false</h2>

<p>This is a basic starting point for discussion. A practical example is that we live on a big rock that jets around the sun at an average speed of 66,600 mph and we don’t feel a thing. If our test for truth is what happens to make sense to us, we’ll indiscriminately reject almost any idea that strikes us as weird. Instead, we need to look at what <em>evidence</em> there is for the truth of any claim.</p>

<h2>2. People use the word miracle in a lot of different ways, so it’s important to define it as it relates to biblical claims</h2>

<p>Philosophers can argue all day about the most appropriate definition of a miracle, but for all intents and purposes, a good working definition is, “An extraordinary event with a supernatural cause.”&nbsp;This is very different than the colloquial ways in which people sometimes use the word. For example, we might say that it’s a “miracle”&nbsp;our kids cleaned their room. But when we’re talking about the kinds of miracle accounts found in the Bible, we need to be very clear that we are specifically talking about claims that God (a <em>supernatural</em> cause) intervened in the world in an <em>extraordinary</em> way.</p>

<h2>3. If God doesn’t exist, miracles are NOT possible</h2>

<p>Given the definition of a miracle, if nothing exists beyond nature - nothing <em>super</em>natural exists - then miracles aren’t possible. This is where Christians can find common ground with skeptics. When skeptics say miracles aren’t possible, it’s typically because they are <em>assuming</em> God doesn’t exist. We can simply reply, “If nothing (such as God) exists beyond nature, and a miracle is something with a cause from beyond nature, then I agree with you! Miracles by definition wouldn’t be possible. But you’re <em>assuming</em> nothing supernatural exists.”</p>

<h2>4. If God does exist, miracles ARE possible</h2>

<p>The flip side of the logic we just saw in point 3 is that if a supernatural being such as God <em>does</em> exist, then miracles are - once again, by definition - possible. God can choose to intervene in His creation in any way He sees fit.</p>

<p>Note that in points 3 and 4, we’re only talking about logic. We haven’t even made any claims about whether or not God actually exists. This logical framework is <em>extremely</em> important for kids to understand. I began teaching this thinking to my kids when they were in kindergarten: <em>If God exists, miracles are possible. If God doesn’t exist, miracles are not possible.</em></p>

<h2>5. The possibility of miracles is, therefore, tied to the evidence for God’s existence</h2>

<p>We can now see from the last two points that the question of whether or not miracles are possible is ultimately a question of the evidence for God’s existence. If there’s good reason to believe God exists, there’s good reason to believe miracles are possible.</p>

<p>Explaining the pieces of evidence for God’s existence is beyond the scope of this post, which is meant to give a broader framework for thinking through the question of miracles. For an explanation of key pieces of evidence for God’s existence and conversation guides to use with your kids, see my book <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Talking-Your-Kids-about-Conversations/dp/0801075521/"><em>Talking with Your Kids about God</em></a>.</p>

<h2>6. Believing that miracles are possible doesn’t mean Christians believe every miracle claim that is made</h2>

<p>Skeptics sometimes think that Christians are willing to believe anything is a miracle if we believe miracles are even possible, so this point bears mentioning. When we acknowledge that if God exists, miracles are possible, we’re not saying we believe every miracle claim people make. If we did, we would be gullible. We have to look at the evidence to determine if there’s good reason to believe a miracle actually happened in any given case.</p>

<h2>7. The truth of Christianity depends on the truth of ONE miracle</h2>

<p>If we need to test miracle claims, as we just discussed, then we need to be really clear on which miracle claims ultimately have bearing on the truth of Christianity. People often get caught up in discussing modern day miracles (or lack thereof), but there is only one miracle claim that is the ultimate test for the truth of Christianity: the resurrection. As Paul says in 1 Corinthians 15:14, “If Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain.”</p>

<h2>8. There is strong historical evidence for the resurrection</h2>

<p>Now that we’ve established the miracle claim we need to test, we need to consider the evidence for it. There are several historical facts surrounding the resurrection that nearly all scholars agree on (both Christians and skeptics) - for example, that Jesus died by crucifixion, that the disciples at least <em>believed</em> Jesus rose and appeared to them, that the church persecutor Paul was suddenly changed, and that Jesus’s own skeptical brother James was suddenly changed as well. The pertinent question is, <em>What is the best explanation for these facts?</em></p>

<p>I discuss the competing theories and why a supernatural resurrection best fits the facts in chapters 21-23 of <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Keeping-Your-Kids-Gods-Side/dp/0736965084/"><em>Keeping Your Kids on God��s Side</em></a>. For a deeper book-length treatment of the topic, see <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Case-Resurrection-Jesus-Gary-Habermas/dp/0825427886"><em>The Case for the Resurrection of Jesus</em></a> by Gary Habermas and Michael Licona.</p>

<h2>9. There is strong evidence for the reliability of the New Testament</h2>

<p>The Gospels describe many miracle accounts. If we have good evidence that the Gospel writers were credible eyewitnesses to the life of Jesus, we have good evidence of such miracles - and that’s exactly what we find. Again, I give an introduction to this subject in chapters 25-28 of <em>Keeping Your Kids on God’s Side</em>, but for a deeper book-length treatment, see <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Cold-Case-Christianity-Homicide-Detective-Investigates/dp/1434704696"><em>Cold-Case Christianity</em></a> by J. Warner Wallace (there is also a kid’s <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Cold-Case-Christianity-Kids-Investigate-Detective/dp/0781414571/">version</a> available for 8-12 year olds!).</p>

<p>For those who have already read <em>Cold-Case Christianity</em>, an excellent book that looks at New Testament reliability from another angle is <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Hidden-Plain-View-Undesigned-Coincidences/dp/1936341905"><em>Hidden in Plain View: Undesigned Coincidences in the Gospels and Acts</em></a> by Lydia McGrew.</p>

<h2>10. Jesus validated the truth of the Old Testament</h2>

<p>Finally, you may be wondering about the many Old Testament miracle accounts - what about talking animals, burning bushes, and walls falling around Jericho, for example?</p>

<p>If we’ve established points 8 and 9, we can also establish the veracity of the Old Testament as a whole because Jesus Himself validated it. Jesus:</p>

<ul>
	<li>appealed to the Old Testament as a source of authority (Matthew 4:4,7,10);</li>
	<li>acknowledged the need to correctly understand Scripture (Matthew 22:29);</li>
	<li>referenced the existence of Old Testament persons such as Adam and Eve (Matthew 19:4-6), Noah (Matthew 24:37-38), and Jonah (Matthew 12:40);</li>
	<li>said He did not come to abolish the “Law or Prophets”&nbsp;(a term for the Scriptures at the time; Matthew 5:7); and</li>
	<li>taught how the Old Testament bears witness to Himself (Luke 24:27).</li>
</ul>

<p>In summary, miracle accounts simply don’t automatically discredit the Bible. Anyone who thinks they do hasn’t thought critically about the subject. <em>Please</em> help your kids understand this so they’re prepared the next time someone tries to make them feel like a fool by making simplistic appeals to “common sense.”</p>
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title: The Bible Never Promises Immediate Physical Healing in the Atonement
topic: Theology
author: Tim Barnett
date: 09/20/2018
source: https://www.str.org/w/the-bible-never-promises-immediate-physical-healing-in-the-atonement
content:
            <div> 
		<p>There are many prosperity preachers who teach that physical healing - in this life - is part of the atonement. For example, Kenneth Copeland <a href="http://www.kcm.org/real-help/spiritual-growth/learn/why-do-bad-things-happen">states</a>,</p>

<blockquote>
<p>Sadly, many Christians have been falsely accusing God of being the cause of their troubles. They wrongly believe that trials and tribulations are God’s tools for developing and strengthening our character...</p>

<p>This is absolutely against the Word of God. Why? <em>Because the very basic principle of the Christian life is to know that God put our sin, sickness, disease, sorrow, grief and poverty on Jesus at Calvary.</em> For God to put any of this on us now to teach us or to strengthen our faith would be a miscarriage of justice. <em>To believe that God has a purpose for sickness would mean that Jesus bore our sickness in vain.</em> What an insult to His love, care and compassion for us!</p>
</blockquote>

<p>According to Copeland, Jesus didn’t merely die for your sins. He also died for your sickness and poverty.</p>

<p>Word-Faith teacher Andrew Wommack agrees. He <a href="https://www.awmi.net/reading/teaching-articles/healing_knowledge/">claims</a>,</p>

<blockquote>
<p><em>The Lord redeemed us from sickness just as much as He redeemed us from sin.</em> He would no more want us to be sick than He would want us to sin. Those are radical statements to many Christians because we’ve been taught that forgiveness of sins is what salvation is all about. Well that’s certainly a vital part of salvation, but that’s not all that Jesus accomplished. <em>We were also healed by His stripes.</em> Sickness is not of God just as sin is not of God. Thank You, Jesus!</p>
</blockquote>

<p>Those who believe it’s God’s will to always physically heal in this life are quick to quote 1 Peter 2:24-25. It says,</p>

<blockquote>
<p>He Himself bore our sins in His body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By His wounds you have been healed. For you were straying like sheep, but have now returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls. (1 Pet. 2:24-25)</p>
</blockquote>

<p>No one disputes what this text <em>says.</em> What is under dispute is what this text <em>means.</em> What does it mean by “healed”? Does it refer to <em>physical</em> healing in this life, or does it refer to <em>spiritual</em> healing?</p>

<p>The word itself doesn’t help us since it is used in Scripture to mean both <em>physically</em> healed and <em>spiritually</em> healed. For example, Jesus tells His disciples,</p>

<blockquote>
<p>For this <em>people’s heart</em> has grown dull, and with their ears they can barely hear, and their eyes they have closed, lest they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears and understand with their heart <em>and turn, and I would heal them</em>. (Matthew 13:15)</p>
</blockquote>

<p>Clearly, this passage is talking about <em>spiritual</em> healing - salvation - not physical healing. Yet, it’s the <em>same</em> Greek word used by Peter.</p>

<p>The key to understanding the 1 Peter passage is to look carefully at the <em>context</em>. Peter begins by stating how Jesus bore our sins in His body on the tree. He connects <em>Jesus bearing our sins</em> with <em>Jesus’&nbsp;body being nailed to the cross</em>. Next, Peter tells us why this is so significant. He says this was <em>so that</em> we might “die to sin and live to righteousness.”</p>

<p>So far, this says nothing about physical healing. But let’s continue.</p>

<p>Notice how Peter interjects the quote from Isaiah to back up his claim. Most theologians believe Peter is quoting Isaiah 53:5.</p>

<blockquote>
<p>But He was pierced for our transgressions; He was crushed for our iniquities; upon Him was the chastisement that brought us peace, <em>and with His wounds we are healed.</em> (Isaiah 53:5)</p>
</blockquote>

<p>It’s as if Peter is saying, “This is what Isaiah was talking about all along. By His wounds, you have been healed.”&nbsp;The <em>wounds</em> are what Jesus experienced “in His body on the tree.”&nbsp;The <em>healing</em> is the benefit we receive - dying to sin and living to righteousness.</p>

<p>The context of Isaiah 53 also points strongly to a <em>spiritual</em> healing. First, Isaiah describes the spiritual sickness that we’re <em>saved from</em> (i.e. trespasses and iniquity). Second, he describes the spiritual healing that we’re <em>saved to</em> (i.e. peace and healing). These parallelisms in Isaiah cannot be overstated. Just as the trespasses and iniquities we are saved from are taken as parallels, the peace and healing we receive are parallels.</p>

<p>This spiritual healing extends into the <em>eventual</em> physical, emotional, and psychological healing. However, this will not be fully realized until the final resurrection of the physical body.</p>

<p>What about Matthew’s use of Isaiah 53:4? Surely this has to do with physical healing.</p>

<blockquote>
<p>That evening they brought to Him many who were oppressed by demons, and He cast out the spirits with a word and healed all who were sick. This was to fulfill what was spoken by the prophet Isaiah: “He took our illnesses and bore our diseases.”&nbsp;(Matthew 8:16-17)</p>
</blockquote>

<p>Most people see this as a quote from Isaiah 53:4.</p>

<blockquote>
<p>Surely He has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed Him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted.</p>
</blockquote>

<p>I believe this text is talking specifically about Christ’s <em>healing ministry</em>, not His atonement. Notice that Matthew tells us this passage from Isaiah was fulfilled in Jesus’&nbsp;healing ministry <em>before He ever went to the cross</em>. Therefore, this text cannot be used to guarantee immediate, physical healing at the cross.</p>

<h2>The Effects of the Atonement Are Not Yet Complete</h2>

<p>Please hear me. I believe there is physical healing <em>through the atonement</em>, but this isn’t guaranteed until the final resurrection. We live between two worlds. The kingdom of God is “already but not yet,”&nbsp;which means we don’t get all of the benefits of the atonement <em>in the present world.</em></p>

<p>So, the question is not <em>whether</em> our bodies receive healing because of the atonement of Christ, but <em>when</em> our bodies receive healing because of the atonement.</p>

<p>You can see this tension between the “already”&nbsp;and “not yet”&nbsp;in the way the New Testament authors write. John says,</p>

<blockquote>
<p>Beloved, we are God’s children <em>now</em>, and what we <em>will be</em> has not yet appeared; but we know that when He appears we shall be like Him, because we shall see Him as He is. (1 John 3:2)</p>
</blockquote>

<p>Notice the temporal language. We are - in the present - God’s children. But something is missing. John says, “What we will be has <em>not yet</em> appeared.”&nbsp;We have to <em>wait</em> for that.</p>

<p>Paul expounds on this waiting in Romans 8:18-25.</p>

<blockquote>
<p>For I consider that the sufferings <strong>of this present time</strong> are not worth comparing with the glory that is <em>to be revealed to us</em>. For the creation <em>waits</em> <em>with eager longing</em> for the revealing of the sons of God. For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. For we know that <em>the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now.</em> And not only the creation, <em>but we ourselves</em>, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we <em>wait</em> <em>eagerly</em> for adoption as sons, <em>the redemption of our bodies.</em> For in this hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what he sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, we <em>wait</em> <em>for it with patience.</em></p>
</blockquote>

<p>Paul is making a sharp contrast between the “present time”&nbsp;and what will be revealed. We don’t get all of the benefits of the atonement right now.</p>

<p>There are aspects of the kingdom that we get right now. Paul says, “There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus”&nbsp;(Romans 8:1). Right now, there is no condemnation for anyone who is saved.</p>

<p>However, there are aspects of the kingdom that we have to wait for. Paul tells the Christians in Philippi,</p>

<blockquote>
<p>But our citizenship is in Heaven, and from it we <em>await</em> a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, <em>who will transform our lowly body to be like His glorious body</em>, by the power that enables Him even to subject all things to Himself. (Philippians 3:20-21)</p>
</blockquote>

<p>Jesus will bring perfect health for every human being who trusts in Christ, but it’s something we wait for. John says,</p>

<blockquote>
<p>He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, <em>for the former things have passed away</em>. (Revelation 21:4)</p>
</blockquote>

<p>What are the former things? Death, mourning, crying, pain. These will all cease in the new creation. But we’re not in the new creation yet. That is something we eagerly wait for. Sadly, Word-Faith teachers ignore all of the passages of Scripture that talk about waiting.</p>

<p>Let me leave you with one final thought. Word-Faith proponents teach that faith in Christ’s atonement brings salvation from sin <em>and</em> healing from sickness. After all, on their view, both were purchased on the cross. Gloria Copeland <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Jesus-Healed-Them-All/dp/1575622041/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&amp;qid=&amp;sr=">claims</a>,</p>

<blockquote>
<p>Jesus bore your sicknesses and carried your diseases at the same time and in the same manner that He bore your sins. You are just as free from sickness and disease as you are free from sin. You should be as quick to cease sickness and disease in your body as you are to cease sin.</p>
</blockquote>

<p>However, this teaching creates the untenable idea that someone can have enough faith <em>to be saved</em>, but not enough faith <em>to be healed</em>. But if you don’t have enough faith to be healed, how do you know you have enough faith to be saved?</p>

<p><em>(See the previous posts in this series <a href="https://www.str.org/blog/it-gods-will-always-heal#.W6LKypP27dc">here</a> and <a href="https://www.str.org/blog/god-has-purpose-suffering#.W6LKypP27dc">here</a>.)</em></p>
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title: Michael Kruger Responds to Two Challenges to the New Testament
topic: History
author: Amy K. Hall
date: 10/02/2018
source: https://www.str.org/w/michael-kruger-responds-to-two-challenges-to-the-new-testament
content:
            <div> 
		<p>The <a href="http://ehrmanproject.com/about">Ehrman Project</a> was created several years ago to give bite-sized, introductory responses to arguments against the reliability of the Bible that have been popularized by Bart Ehrman. Scholars who have contributed to this project include Daniel Wallace, Darrell Bock, Ben Witherington, Alvin Plantinga, and many more. Here are two responses by <a href="https://www.michaeljkruger.com/about/">Michael Kruger</a>.</p>

<p>In “How Did the New Testament Canon Develop?”&nbsp;Dr. Kruger argues against Dr. Ehrman’s claim that there was a “wild diversity”&nbsp;in the early church when it came to their texts - i.e., that people followed a variety of competing canons, and their theology varied according to the books they chose to use.</p>

<blockquote>
<p>If one wants to portray the New Testament canon as developing in a way that was entirely haphazard and open-ended until the fourth century, that’s simply not the case. When we look into the early centuries of the church, particularly the second century, we realize that the core of the New Testament canon was in place almost from the very beginning. What do we mean by “core”? What we mean is the four Gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John) and at least ten, if not thirteen, Epistles of Paul.</p>

<p>For example, one of our earliest canonical lists, the Muratorian Fragment, dates from the late second century, probably around 170 or 180 AD. In that particular document, it’s clear that there are only four Gospels that are received, and it lists all thirteen of Paul’s epistles...What we see, then, is that there’s a core of New Testament books that were never really in dispute at all.</p>
</blockquote>

<div class="embed-responsive embed-responsive-16by9" data-embed-id="zoEBEXlXua0" data-styles="{&quot;width&quot;:&quot;100%&quot;}" style="width:100%"><iframe allow="encrypted-media" allowfullscreen="" class="embed-responsive-item" frameborder="0" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/zoEBEXlXua0?rel=0" tabindex="0"></iframe></div>

<p>In “Who Wrote the Gospels?”&nbsp;Dr. Kruger gives a few reasons why we should think the four Gospels were actually written by Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. Here’s one:</p>

<blockquote>
<p>As far back as we can see, these Gospels had the titles with them...If these titles were a late addition, how is it that we have such uniformity in what these documents were called? If Matthew’s Gospel, for example, wasn’t called Matthew’s Gospel until late in the second century, then why don’t we have a number of copies of Matthew’s Gospel with different titles, with different names? In fact, we don’t possess that. What we find is incredible uniformity across the board of the titles of these Gospels...It’s amazingly consistent - something we would not expect if the titles were added later.</p>
</blockquote>

<div class="embed-responsive embed-responsive-16by9" data-embed-id="V2kRn6y_qOE" data-styles="{&quot;width&quot;:&quot;100%&quot;}" style="width:100%"><iframe allow="encrypted-media" allowfullscreen="" class="embed-responsive-item" frameborder="0" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/V2kRn6y_qOE?rel=0" tabindex="0"></iframe></div>

<p>I encourage you to explore the rest of the videos <a href="http://ehrmanproject.com/">here</a>.</p>
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title: Is It God’s Will to Always Heal?
topic: Theology
author: Tim Barnett
date: 09/04/2018
source: https://www.str.org/w/is-it-god-s-will-to-always-heal-
content:
            <div> 
		<p>My friend Alex is dying from brain cancer. He has received twice the recommended dosage of radiation, and his brain tumor continues to grow. In fact, the amount of radiation to his brain has caused serious paralysis to his right side. There are no more medical treatments available. Without a miracle, Alex will not make it to his 40th birthday.</p>

<p>During a phone call, Alex shared a personal story with me. He described how parents from the Christian school where he worked came over to express their concern that Alex wasn’t getting better. More than that, they expressed concern about <em>why</em> he wasn’t getting better. They told Alex and his wife that he could be healed <em>if he only had enough faith.</em> They told him that it was his own fault - his lack of faith - that was preventing his healing.</p>

<p>Furthermore, they described how immediate physical healing is <em>guaranteed</em> in the atonement. Just as there is <em>spiritual healing</em> - forgiveness and justification - in the atonement for all who believe, there is also immediate <em>physical healing</em> in the atonement for all who believe.</p>

<p>God has done His part (they said). Our immediate physical healing has been bought and paid for in the death of Christ. Now it’s up to us to <em>receive</em> that healing through faith. So, the problem isn’t on God’s end; rather, it’s on our end.</p>

<p>This false teaching is rampant in the church. This is the message of many so-called prosperity preachers. For example, televangelist Kenneth Copeland states, “Healing always comes. The problem has been in our receiving, not in God’s giving.”</p>

<p>On this view, my friend Alex has already been <em>given</em> physical healing, but he hasn’t <em>received</em> it by faith.</p>

<p>In an article titled <a href="http://www.kcm.org/real-help/healing/learn/does-god-want-me-healed"><em>Does God Want Me Healed?</em></a> Copeland writes,</p>

<blockquote>
<p>God does not play favorites. <em>It is His will and desire for you to be healed. Period.</em> God’s Word says, “My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge...”&nbsp;(Hosea 4:6). They do not have the knowledge of God’s Word that it is His will for them to be healed.</p>

<p>Some people accept sickness as God’s will. Yet the same people will take medicine, be operated on or do anything else they can in order to get well. Many have forgotten God’s benefit of healing for their bodies. [Emphasis mine.]</p>
</blockquote>

<p>Theology has consequences. And bad theology always produces bad consequences. My friend Alex experienced those cruel consequences firsthand. Sadly, there aren’t enough people correcting and rebuking this false teaching.</p>

<p>The false idea that <em>God desires to always heal in every circumstance</em> produces a tsunami of destruction by all who believe it. If you are sick and not getting healed, who is to blame? <em>You are.</em> If you are suffering and not getting a reprieve, who is at fault? Again, <em>you are.</em></p>

<p>Think about the logic of this view. If you just had enough faith, then you would be healed. But you are not healed; therefore, you must not have enough faith.</p>

<p>Do you see how debilitating this idea is? Not only is the sick person’s body failing, but - on this view - so is his faith.</p>

<p>Now let me say it as plainly as I can: If you believe it is God’s will to always heal in this life, then you have misunderstood the Bible and you have a false view of God.</p>

<p>Over the next few weeks, I’d like to offer a biblical theology of suffering. We need to begin with a foundational biblical principle: <em>In a fallen world, we should not be surprised by suffering.</em></p>

<p>The first three chapters in Genesis set the stage for the great drama of history - the story of reality. God begins by creating a perfect world. Genesis 1 uses the word “good”&nbsp;seven times to describe the world that God made. Genesis 1:31 closes the chapter by stating, “And God saw everything that He had made, and behold, it was <em>very good</em>.”</p>

<p>The original creation contained no sickness, no tears, no conflict, no suffering, no evil. Adam and Eve had a perfect relationship with God, with each other, and with the creation.</p>

<p>So, what happened? Well, just keep reading! Everything changes in Genesis 3. Because of human rebellion against God, the creation was subjected to corruption and decay. We call this “the Fall.”</p>

<p>The apostle Paul connects our present suffering with this cataclysmic event. That is, he looks <em>back to the cause of suffering</em>, and he looks <em>forward to our hope through suffering.</em></p>

<blockquote>
<p>For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us [looking forward]. <em>For the creation waits</em> with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God [looking forward]. <em>For the creation was subjected to futility</em>, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. <em>For we know</em> that <em>the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now.</em> (Rom. 8:18-22)</p>
</blockquote>

<p>When you think of the pains of childbirth, what passage of Scripture comes to mind? I think this last phrase is a reference to Genesis 3:16: “To the woman He said, ’I will surely multiply your pain in childbearing; <strong>in pain you shall bring forth children</strong>.’”</p>

<p>Paul takes the <em>present</em> suffering in creation - which includes sickness, disease, cancer, death - as a given in this fallen world. There is no hint that Christians are immune to this, or that this doesn’t apply to them. In fact, Paul teaches just the opposite. The Fall touches the “whole creation,”&nbsp;which includes you and me.</p>

<p>In light of all this, we shouldn’t be surprised when suffering comes. But some of you might be wondering, “Okay Tim, I guess that makes sense, but why would a good God permit suffering for those He loves?”</p>

<p>Fortunately, we are not left guessing. The Bible gives us some insight into this. God <em>permits</em> suffering because God has a <em>purpose</em> for suffering. We will address this issue next week.</p>
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title: Our View of Human Beings Matters
topic: Other Worldviews
author: Amy K. Hall
date: 10/04/2018
source: https://www.str.org/w/our-view-of-human-beings-matters
content:
            <div> 
		<p>Our view of human beings matters. Many of the culture wars being fought today are the result of two very different understandings of what it means to be human. Were we created by God, or did we evolve? Is human nature fixed or malleable? Is there a purpose for our bodies that we need to conform ourselves to, or are we free to form ourselves according to our own purposes? Do we have intrinsic value, or do we earn our value by possessing particular characteristics (race, size, ability, etc.)? These questions are relevant to abortion, physician-assisted suicide, homosexuality, marriage, and transgenderism—today’s most divisive topics. They’re divisive precisely because our culture is deeply divided on a much more basic question: What is a human being?</p>

<p>Worldviews don’t exist as mere abstractions. They shape and direct real people’s lives, creating real-world consequences. I came across this <a href="https://broadly.vice.com/en_us/article/kz5bxa/eva-tiamat-medusa-dragon-lady-transgender?utm_campaign=sharebutton">article and short documentary</a> about a man who underwent $70,000 worth of surgeries—castration, horns implanted, ears and some teeth removed, nose altered, tongue forked—to transform himself into the “Dragon Lady,”&nbsp;Eva Tiamat Medusa, and I thought the passage below was the clearest expression of self-autonomy and self-creation (as opposed to submitting to a Creator) that I’ve seen in a while.</p>

<blockquote>
<p>Tiamat has endured discrimination, abuse, and sexual violence—a lifetime of injustice committed against her at the hands of men. So, over time, she stopped identifying with our species...</p>

<p>Tiamat doesn’t seem like a human. She seems like a dragon, a mythical entity that has, through a series of ritualistic procedures, managed to escape the confines of the human body. As a trans woman, that is something I implicitly understand. In fact, I don’t think there’s much difference between us. When I grew breasts, when I had surgery to carry my body across physical sex, I felt a sense of freedom from manhood much in the way that Tiamat says she feels free from being human...</p>

<p>I believe that body modification is a core aspect of what it means to be human. Everything that we do to our bodies, whether we are exercising, dieting, having plastic surgery, dying our hair, changing our sex, or transitioning into otherworldly beings, represents a negotiation between our will and the forms we were born into. We make decisions every day to manifest our mind’s desires materially, and have since the eras of our earliest civilizations. Tiamat’s method is merely different than most others’.</p>
</blockquote>

<p>It’s easy to look at this situation and critique the worldview promoted above, but let’s not forget to also apply the <em>Christian</em> worldview to this story. When we do that, here’s what we see: Tiamat is an immeasurably valuable person who was made in the image of God, who was egregiously sinned against by other human beings, who has clearly gone through a lot of pain, and who would find great joy in knowing and being reconciled to our Creator. Did you feel scorn when you read about the “Dragon Lady’s”&nbsp;surgeries, or did you feel compassion? Were you moved to laugh or pray? Did Tiamat seem less valuable than other people to you? In short, did you see Tiamat through eyes shaped by the <em>Christian</em> worldview?</p>

<p>Like I said at the beginning, our view of human beings matters.</p>
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title: reTHINK Apologetics Conference Post-Event Homework
topic: Christian Living
author: Alan Shlemon
date: 09/27/2018
source: https://www.str.org/w/rethink-apologetics-conference-post-event-homework
content:
            <div> 
		<p>The next season for Stand to Reason’s <a href="http://rethinkapologetics.com/">reTHINK Apologetics Student Conferences</a> begins this weekend in <a href="http://rethinkapologetics.com/orange-county.html" target="_blank">Orange County</a>, California. We’re beginning a new series with the topic “Has God Spoken?”&nbsp;As you might suspect from that title, we’re focusing on the Bible: the claim that it’s the word of God, that it’s reliable, and several other related topics.</p>

<p>Whether you’re able to attend or not, let me offer a suggestion for a logical next step in your study of the Bible. Although what I’m encouraging you to do is not explicitly an apologetics-related <em>study</em>, it has apologetics-related <em>benefits</em>.</p>

<p>You’ll be coming off the reTHINK Apologetics conference with new zeal about Scripture; you’ll know how to defend it and how to graciously share your convictions with others. Here’s what you can do next: Learn how to read the Bible <em>properly</em>. Theologians call this discipline hermeneutics. That’s just a fancy word for the art and science of biblical interpretation. It’s about learning how to correctly interpret and apply Scripture. After all, there’s no point in reading God’s word if you misunderstand what it says. You can’t obey the commands of God if you misread the commands of God. That’s where hermeneutics can help.</p>

<p>Here are a few suggestions to get you started, listed in increasing order of commitment. First, you can read a very short (and free) <a href="https://www.str.org/blog/never-read-a-bible-verse-2" target="_blank">article</a> about context that Greg Koukl wrote. Next, you can buy a small booklet (that Greg also wrote) about hermeneutics called <em><a href="https://store.str.org/ProductDetails.asp?ProductCode=BK215" target="_blank">Never Read a Bible Verse</a></em>. It’s only $2.95, and it’s what I use when I teach on this subject. Finally, you can purchase a standard length book called <em><a href="https://store.str.org/ProductDetails.asp?ProductCode=BK141" target="_blank">How to Read the Bible for All Its Worth</a></em>. Although this book was required for my hermeneutics class when I was studying at <a href="https://www.biola.edu/" target="_blank">Biola University</a>, it’s very accessible and has become popular among broader audiences.</p>

<p>Although hermeneutics is not technically apologetics, apologists readily rely upon the discipline in some apologetic settings. For example, when religious advocates of other religions come knocking on your door, they often cite Bible verses to support their doctrines. Knowing basic hermeneutics can help you respond to their claims. Or, advocates of pro-gay theology often try to reinterpret biblical passages. Knowing hermeneutics can help you recognize their interpretive mistakes and graciously explain the correct meaning.</p>

<p>People often ask me what my favorite class was when I studied apologetics at Biola. My answer is always the same: hermeneutics. It was the class that had the most dramatic impact in my spiritual life - more than any apologetics class I took. It showed me many of my biblical interpretive mistakes that I’d believed for years. It exposed several incorrect presuppositions I held about Scripture. Most importantly, it allowed me to be transformed by the Bible’s ultimate author - the Holy Spirit - whom I was unable to understand because of my biblical illiteracy. Do yourself a favor and take this next step after reTHINK. In fact, take this step no matter what. I firmly believe that <em>every</em> believer <em>should</em> study hermeneutics at some level. It’s that important.</p>
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title: Should Christians Avoid Reading Harry Potter?
topic: Christian Living
author: Amy K. Hall
date: 09/07/2018
source: https://www.str.org/w/should-christians-avoid-reading-harry-potter-
content:
            <div> 
		<p>I was asked recently about <em>Harry Potter</em>:</p>

<blockquote>
<p>I’m just curious about your opinion on whether Christians should be reading <em>Harry Potter</em>. I was recently warned about being involved with witchcraft and the Bible’s warning against it. It doesn’t seem like reading HP quite fits into what Scripture is talking about.</p>
</blockquote>

<p>Should Christians avoid reading <em>Harry Potter</em>? My answer is, not necessarily, but some should.</p>

<p>I agree that it “doesn’t quite fit into what Scripture is talking about.”&nbsp;The magic in <em>Harry Potter</em> is more like superhero powers than witchcraft - i.e., it’s not about calling on outside spiritual forces or entities but about developing an innate ability. The ability is naturally held by some and can’t be learned or acquired in any way by those who were not born with the ability - and there’s a clear distinction between the two kinds of people (i.e., there’s no suggestion that <em>you</em>, Mr. or Ms. Normal Person should - or even could - try to imitate anything that’s taught at Hogwarts.) The magic simply isn’t similar to the witchcraft that happens in the real world in any way that matters (but keep reading for two caveats at the end of this post).</p>

<p>Even more importantly, in stark contrast to most popular culture, the worldview of the story is startlingly more Christian than pagan (good and evil, duty, self-denial and self-sacrifice to save others; not relativism, immorality, “follow your heart,”&nbsp;self-realization). A cultural phenomenon like <em>Friends</em> should be a far bigger worry to Christians than something like <em>Harry Potter</em> both because of its values and because it presents itself as an example of normal life for everyone to follow. It’s more likely to negatively affect a person’s worldview, behavior, and attitude towards God.</p>

<p>That being said, two caveats:</p>

<p>1) I wouldn’t let a child read <em>Harry Potter</em> who was young enough to be tempted to follow the trappings of the story (i.e., spells, wands, etc.) into other stories that use similar items within a <em>pagan</em> worldview - stories that actually do look more like real witchcraft, containing practices that actually exist in the real world. That, I think, is the danger of <em>Harry Potter</em>. There was an explosion of witch stories in the culture after these books because writers and publishers thought <em>Harry Potter</em> succeeded because of its trappings - i.e., the “magic.”&nbsp;That’s not why it succeeded. It succeeded because it was in line with the great British Christian stories of old, unlike nearly every story out there today. (For more on this, see my previous post, “<a href="https://www.str.org/blog/harry-potter-is-a-danger-to-modern-society-in-a-good-way#.W4CJhZMzrdc">Harry Potter Is a Danger to Modern Society - in a Good Way</a>.”) I wouldn’t let a child read it until he understood the difference between fantasy and reality and between Harry Potter “magic”&nbsp;and real witchcraft.</p>

<p>2) If it bothers any person’s conscience to read it, that person should not read it. See Romans 14 - “Each person must be fully convinced in his own mind,”&nbsp;“To him who thinks anything to be unclean, to him it is unclean,”&nbsp;etc. If reading <em>Harry Potter</em> causes you to hide from God - even a little - don’t read it.</p>
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title: God Has a Purpose in Suffering
topic: Theology
author: Tim Barnett
date: 09/13/2018
source: https://www.str.org/w/god-has-a-purpose-in-suffering-
content:
            <div> 
		<p>Suffering is normal <em>in a fallen world</em>. The apostle Paul says, “The whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now”&nbsp;(Rom. 8:22). The world is broken. And we can see the effects of that brokenness all around us.</p>

<p>Sadly, many people - including Christians - are surprised by suffering. This can lead people to adopt a distorted view of God, faith, and suffering. This highlights why we need to have an accurate <em>theology of suffering</em>.</p>

<p><a href="https://www.str.org/blog/it-gods-will-always-heal#.W5p5i5P27dc">Last week</a>, I recounted how my friend was chastised for not having enough faith to receive God’s healing. He was told that the problem isn’t in God’s giving healing; the problem is in our receiving healing. After all, why would a good God permit suffering for those He loves?</p>

<p>The Bible tells us God <em>permits</em> suffering because God has a <em>purpose</em> for suffering. We all understand this at a basic, human level. For example, I’ve taken each of my girls to get their two-year vaccinations. But when they are that young, they don’t understand that these needles are meant to help them, not hurt them. They only see the affliction. They can’t see the purpose in the affliction.</p>

<p>The Bible doesn’t give us the specific <em>micro reasons</em> for our sufferings. Why doesn’t He heal in my current situation? Why didn’t He intervene? Why has my suffering lasted so long? Why him and not me? Why this disease? Why now?</p>

<p>Unfortunately, we’re not given this information. However, the Bible does give us some broad <em>macro reasons</em> for our sufferings.</p>

<p>Here are <em>four</em> of those reasons.</p>

<h2>1) God wants us to become more like Christ.</h2>

<p>In his letter to the Church in Rome, Paul writes,</p>

<blockquote>
<p>And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to His purpose. For those whom He foreknew He also predestined <em>to be conformed to the image of His Son</em>, in order that He might be the firstborn among many brothers. (Romans 8:28-29)</p>
</blockquote>

<p>In other words, the good that God is working all things together for is <em>the conforming of you and me to the image of His Son</em>. And if Jesus was made our perfect high priest by His continued obedience through suffering (Heb. 5:8-9), shouldn’t we expect to also suffer?</p>

<p>In the midst of suffering, we cry out for God to <em>deliver us</em>, when what He may want to do is <em>transform us</em>. He doesn’t merely want to <em>move us</em> out of our suffering; He wants to <em>change us</em> through it. This is a hard truth.</p>

<p>God, in His infinite wisdom, works all things - painful things, difficult things, heart-breaking things, terminal things, and excruciating things - together for good, so that we will be more Christlike.</p>

<p>If the goal is your immediate comfort and your temporary happiness, then God has failed. But that’s not the goal. God is more concerned about your <em>holiness</em> than your <em>happiness</em>. His goal is your <em>eternal character</em>, not your <em>immediate comfort</em>.</p>

<h2>2) God wants us to fully rely on Him.</h2>

<blockquote>
<p>For we do not want you to be unaware, brothers, of the affliction we experienced in Asia. For we were so utterly burdened beyond our strength that we despaired of life itself. Indeed, we felt that we had received the sentence of death. <em>But that was to make us rely not on ourselves but on God who raises the dead</em>. (2 Corinthians 1:8-9)</p>
</blockquote>

<p>When we are prospering, healthy, and everything is going well, it is easy to think we don’t need God. New cars, nice houses, and money in the bank feed this lie. It’s when we receive a “sentence of death,”&nbsp;as Paul calls it, that we see our need for God. Suffering shows us we need God in a way that prosperity never could.</p>

<h2>3) God wants us to repent.</h2>

<p>God permits suffering in the world to <em>warn the world</em> of the impending judgment. He uses it to call people to repentance.</p>

<blockquote>
<p>Or those eighteen on whom the tower in Siloam fell and killed them: do you think that they were worse offenders than all the others who lived in Jerusalem? No, I tell you; <em>but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish</em>. (Luke 13:4-5)</p>
</blockquote>

<p>In his book <em>The Problem of Pain</em>, C. S. Lewis says, “We can ignore even pleasure. But pain insists upon being attended to. God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks in our conscience, but shouts in our pain: it is His megaphone to rouse a deaf world.”</p>

<p>Suffering is God’s megaphone to get this world to wake up, listen, and repent.</p>

<h2>4) God wants us to see His glory on display.</h2>

<p>This is a bold claim. But I think it’s backed up by Scripture.</p>

<blockquote>
<p>As He [Jesus] passed by, He saw a man blind from birth. And His disciples asked Him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?”&nbsp;Jesus answered, “It was not that this man sinned, or his parents, <em>but that the works of God might be displayed in him.”</em>&nbsp;(John 9:1-3)</p>
</blockquote>

<p>When Jesus’&nbsp;disciples encounter a man who has been blind from birth, they ask explicitly about the purpose of his blindness. Why was this man born blind? Jesus tells us: It was so that God could put His works on display for the world to see.</p>

<blockquote>
<p>Now a certain man was ill, Lazarus of Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha. It was Mary who anointed the Lord with ointment and wiped His feet with her hair, whose brother Lazarus was ill. So the sisters sent to him, saying, “Lord, he whom you love is ill.”&nbsp;But when Jesus heard it He said, “This illness does not lead to death. <em>It is for the glory of God, so that the Son of God may be glorified through it.”</em>&nbsp;(John 11:1-4)</p>
</blockquote>

<p>When Lazarus falls ill, Jesus doesn’t immediately come to his rescue (John 11:6). In fact, He allows Lazarus to suffer and die from his sickness. But the suffering doesn’t end there. Lazarus’&nbsp;family, including Mary and Martha, are heartbroken over their loss. So, why does Jesus allow - even orchestrate - all of this suffering? He tells us, “It is for the glory of God, so that the Son of God may be glorified through it.”</p>

<p>God can even allow suffering to bring Himself glory.</p>

<p>There are certainly other macro reasons, but this should be enough to demonstrate that God can use suffering to bring about a good purpose, even if He never tells us what that purpose is.</p>
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title: What��s the Main Concern for Christian Parents When It Comes to Gender?
topic: Christian Living
author: Brian Seagraves
date: 09/21/2018
source: https://www.str.org/w/what-s-the-main-concern-for-christian-parents-when-it-comes-to-gender-
content:
            <div> 
		<p>Recent studies indicate that only about 0.5% of the U.S. population identifies as transgender. Yet, <em>every parent needs to be concerned about the effect transgenderism will have on their children.</em> If the percentage of people who are transgender is so small, why do all parents need to be so concerned?</p>

<p><strong>This issue (along with the full range of LGBT issues) will be a line in the sand for our children.</strong> Culture’s championing of sexual autonomy and self-identity will force everyone to choose where they will stand. You can stand with God and the authority of Scripture, or you can stand on the side of the sexual revolution. There is no middle ground.</p>

<p>In teaching classes and seminars, I have noticed that what the older generation rejects, and what the middle generation isn’t sure of, the youngest generation likely adopts. But adopting culture’s understanding of sex and gender requires jettisoning God’s revealed design.</p>

<p>From a certain perspective, the issue is as simple as: whom will I believe?</p>

<p>At a <a href="https://www.str.org/blog/bad-reasons-to-adopt-pro-gay-theology#.W6LiCJP27dd">gay-affirming conference</a> a few years ago, the main organizer told the audience that what changes people’s minds so that they become gay-affirming is having a close relationship with someone who is LGBT. The speaker is right. This is why we must train our children up to have a deeply rooted biblical worldview that begins with God creating us. As Genesis 1 says, He made us “male and female.”&nbsp;The very first chapter of God’s revelation to us tells us that God intentionally made two sexes that are complementary. This wasn’t arbitrary; it was so we could fulfill His design for us to fill the earth with other people who would love and worship God.</p>

<p>If our children reject God’s revelation of who we are and how we were created, it will not be long before other essentials follow. Most doctrinal issues find their start in a rejection or misunderstanding of all or part of the first three chapters of Genesis.</p>

<p>We are in a battle today over ideas: Who gets to define who and what we are? Who gets to define what love is? Who gets to define how we should live? There are only two options; either we (as the creation) define this, or our Creator God defines it. But more than just a battle over ideas, we are in a battle for hearts. If our children do not know and agree with the God of the Bible, they will not love the God of the Bible.</p>

<p><em>Hunter Leavine and I wrote the small book “</em><em><a href="https://amzn.to/2NSJ2Vk">GENDER: A Conversation Guide for Parents and Pastors</a>”</em><em>&nbsp;to help equip parents and ministry leaders to lead the conversation about gender in their homes and churches.</em></p>
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title: Was the Early Church Communist?
topic: History
author: Aaron Brake
date: 09/06/2018
source: https://www.str.org/w/was-the-early-church-communist-
content:
            <div> 
		<p>In the book of Acts, we’re told the following about the early church in Jerusalem:</p>

<blockquote>
<p>Now the whole group of those who believed were of one heart and soul, and no one claimed private ownership of any possessions, but everything they owned was held in common...There was not a needy person among them, for as many as owned lands or houses sold them and brought the proceeds of what was sold. They laid it at the apostles’&nbsp;feet, and it was distributed to each as any had need. (Acts 4:32-35)</p>
</blockquote>

<p>Some may read this passage and come away with the mistaken idea that communism is the Christian ideal. Individuals who accept Marxist ideology or liberation theology may certainly argue this way while using this passage as a proof text. But is the Bible really teaching communism as a normative and ideal way of life for Christians?</p>

<p>Jay Richards addresses this question in his book <em><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Money-Greed-God-Capitalism-Solution/dp/0061900575/ref=sr_1_1_twi_pap_2?ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1536174589&amp;sr=8-1&amp;keywords=money%2C+greed%2C+and+god&amp;dpID=51zAOsE17zL&amp;preST=_SY344_BO1,204,203,200_QL70_&amp;dpSrc=srch">Money, Greed, and God</a></em>. He points out four important things to remember when examining these verses:</p>

<ul>
	<li>First, this passage mentions nothing of class warfare or the idea that private property is immoral, as does modern communism. Rather, Christians were sharing freely and spontaneously.</li>
	<li>Second, neither does this passage mention anything about the state. The state is nowhere to be found. It is not the government that is confiscating property and collectivizing industry.</li>
	<li>Third, later, when Peter condemns Ananias and Sapphira in Acts 5, he does not condemn them for keeping part of the proceeds but rather for lying about the amount they received. In fact, in verse 4, Peter explicitly states the property was rightfully theirs even after they sold it: “While it remained unsold, did it not remain your own? And after it was sold, were not the proceeds at your disposal?”</li>
	<li>Fourth, the Bible never makes the communal life of the early church in Jerusalem prescriptive for Christians. Furthermore, it doesn’t even seem to be the norm for the Jerusalem church but was rather short-lived.</li>
</ul>

<p>On this last point, Walt Russell, in his book <em><a href="http://store.str.org/ProductDetails.asp?ProductCode=BK171">Playing with Fire</a></em>, provides two important criteria for determining whether or not a particular behavior of Christians in the book of Acts should be considered normative and prescriptive for us today:</p>

<ul>
	<li>First, is the behavior repeatedly emphasized as part of a recurring theme within the broader narrative of Acts?</li>
	<li>Second, is this recurring pattern of behavior closely aligned with Luke’s main emphasis on a universal, Law-free identity for God’s people?</li>
</ul>

<p>Examining the communal lifestyle of the early church in Jerusalem by these two criteria shows that it fails on both counts. This behavior is nowhere mentioned again in the book of Acts or even in the entire rest of the New Testament. It also does not fit with Luke’s main purpose for writing the book of Acts.</p>

<p>Therefore, given the context and indicators within the passage itself, along with the fact that this behavior should not be considered normative or prescriptive, it certainly cannot be argued from these verses that communism is in any way the Christian ideal or was even practiced by the early church.</p>
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title: A Shrewd Insight from Francis Schaeffer
topic: Philosophy
author: Greg Koukl
date: 10/01/2018
source: https://www.str.org/w/a-shrewd-insight-from-francis-schaeffer
content:
            <div> 
		<p>In the waning days of summer, 1997, two well-known and well-loved women died within days of each other, but the public reaction to each death was radically different. Mother Teresa passed away peacefully at 87 - her death a quiet conclusion to a noble life well lived. Princess Diana died in her prime at 36 - her death a tragic and “untimely”&nbsp;intrusion into a life still filled with promise.</p>

<p>Why did so many react so differently to the same kind of event - a life ending, a human being dying? Let me share an insight with you I learned from the late Francis Schaeffer that I think explains it - a bit of wisdom that may help you navigate in conversations with others about Christ. He called it the “mannishness of man.”&nbsp;Strange phrase, agreed, but a provocative notion, nonetheless.</p>

<p>For Schaeffer, two inescapable truths form the bedrock of his insight. One, we live in God’s world. Two, we bear God’s image. Every human being lives in the actual world God made, and all human beings - with the mark of God on their souls - are fundamentally and intrinsically different from everything else in this world.</p>

<p>There is a third thing, though, that makes all the difference in our conversations. Because we live in God’s world and are made in God’s image, there are <em>things we all know</em> that are embedded deep within our hearts - profound things about our world and about ourselves - even though we deny them or our worldviews disqualify them.</p>

<p>Can a person believe something but still deny it? In a certain sense, yes. Consciously, we construct a system that satisfies our demand for autonomy - for self-rule. We say there is no God - at least, no God to worry about. We say there is no ultimate purpose in life. We are free of those constraints. Rather, we chart our own course. We make our own rules. We create our own purpose. We live by our creed - “You do you,”&nbsp;our modern motto.</p>

<p>But then our words betray us when our guard is down. Our actions - actually, our re-actions - tell a different story, revealing deeper beliefs, tacit convictions that conflict with our man-made philosophies, accurate intuitions about reality we cannot deny even when we try. “That which is known about God,”&nbsp;Paul wrote, “is evident <em>within</em> them; for God made it evident to them”&nbsp;(Rom. 1:19). Our “mannishness”&nbsp;cannot be suppressed.</p>

<p>Back to Mother Theresa and Princess Di. From one point of view - an atheistic, materialistic one - no one dies “before their time.”&nbsp;Death is death and arrives when it arrives. There is no timeliness for anything since there is no timetable, no schedule, no plan of how things are supposed to be. Everything just is.</p>

<p>In a God-less universe where all meaning is of our own making, what could it possibly mean to say someone died an “untimely”&nbsp;death? It means that <em>people know better</em>. It means they know that life has ultimate purpose and deeper significance that transcends private projects. In spite of their pontifications to the contrary, their mannishness gives them away.</p>

<p>And there are lots of things like this, if you look for them. People endorse moral relativism for convenience, but then are mortified at the genuine evil that assails the world, and struggle with guilty consciences for their participation in it. They deny conscious design in the universe but reflexively invoke the wonders of “Mother Nature”&nbsp;when overwhelmed by the magnificence of God’s world. They deny Father, so they praise Mother. Et cetera. Et cetera.</p>

<p>Understanding the mannishness of man provides a powerful technique to get someone thinking. “The truth that we let in first is not the dogmatic statement of the truth of the Scriptures,”&nbsp;Schaeffer wrote, “but the truth of the external world and the truth of what man himself is. This is what shows him his need. The Scriptures then show him the real nature of his lostness and the answer to it.”</p>

<p>Here’s how Schaeffer’s insight can be useful for us. Listen to the way people talk. Watch for when - from their own mouth - their acknowledgment of reality intrudes on their philosophies. Then exploit that tension by asking a question. In a world without purpose, why is Di’s death a tragedy? If there is no ultimate, universal morality, how can anything be really evil? Why try to talk someone out of a suicide? If there is no meaning to life, what’s the point?</p>

<p>Mother Teresa finished her course, and Princess Diana did not. That is the victory and the tragedy of those events in the waning days of summer, 1997. But only because there is a divinely intended purpose - a noble end humans have been designed for that sin, sadly, cuts short.</p>

<p>So listen carefully in your conversations. Listen for when a person’s mannishness speaks. When they tell the truth - and they must, eventually - point it out, and then see what they have to say. It’s a rather simple way to get them thinking.</p>
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title: We Won’t Miss Anything in the New Creation
topic: Theology
author: Keith Plummer
date: 09/26/2018
source: https://www.str.org/w/we-won-t-miss-anything-in-the-new-creation
content:
            <div> 
		<p>In the 1980s, a beer manufacturer ran a series of television commercials designed to appeal to outdoorsmen. Each featured friends in a breathtaking setting, enjoying one of their favorite pastimes like fly fishing or zipping through the Everglades on an airboat. In all of the commercials, when the fun came to an end, someone would pull out a six-pack and pass the cans around. As they were enjoying their refreshing beverage, someone would smile and say, “Guys, it doesn’t get any better than this!”</p>

<p>The company responsible for those commercials wanted viewers to think that their product was an essential ingredient for experiencing the pinnacle of pleasure. Each of us has some conception of a circumstance or experience about which we tell ourselves, “It doesn’t get any better than this!”&nbsp;It might be something we enjoy regularly or infrequently, but it could just as well be something we eagerly desire but haven’t yet been able to partake in for various reasons. The more pleasant we find it or imagine it to be, the more difficult it is to consider life without it.</p>

<p>Jesus’&nbsp;teaching that those who will be resurrected to eternal life “neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like angels in heaven”&nbsp;(Matt. 22:30) has often led to wonder (and/or panic) about what embodied existence without one of the greatest of physical pleasures humanity knows will be like. In his book <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Miracles-C-S-Lewis/dp/0060653019/ref=sr_1_1_atc_badge_A2N1U4I2KOS032_twi_pap_2?ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1537817758&amp;sr=8-1&amp;keywords=miracles+lewis&amp;dpID=51a7xaMpneL&amp;preST=_SY344_BO1,204,203,200_QL70_&amp;dpSrc=srch"><em>Miracles</em></a>, C.S. Lewis addresses this concern and offers an analogy I think is helpful for allaying our worries.</p>

<p>Near the close of chapter 16, “Miracles of the New Creation,”&nbsp;Lewis writes:</p>

<blockquote>
<p>The letter and spirit of scripture, and of all Christianity, forbid us to suppose that life in the New Creation will be a sexual life; and this reduces our imagination to the withering alternative either of bodies which are hardly recognizable as human bodies at all or else of a perpetual fast.</p>
</blockquote>

<p>Lewis’s choice of the adjective “withering”&nbsp;to describe these options as the only ones seems quite appropriate. Either we are raised to a state that seems sub-human, or we are raised fully engendered with yearnings from which we’ll spend forever abstaining.</p>

<p>But Lewis goes on to show why the conception of a perpetual fast is misguided:</p>

<blockquote>
<p>As regards the fast, I think our present outlook might be like that of a small boy who, on being told that the sexual act was the highest bodily pleasure should immediately ask whether you ate chocolates at the same time. On receiving the answer “No,”&nbsp;he might regard absence of chocolates as the chief characteristic of sexuality. In vain would you tell him that the reason why lovers in their carnal raptures don’t bother about chocolates is that they have something better to think of. The boy knows chocolate: he does not know the positive thing that excludes it. We are in the same position. We know the sexual life; we do not know, except in glimpses, the other thing which, in Heaven, will leave no room for it. Hence where fullness awaits us we anticipate fasting.</p>
</blockquote>

<p>Most of our questions about what the eternal state will be like must await its arrival for answers. But of this we can be assured: In the presence of our risen Savior and Lord, there will be no looking back longingly to the present order and whatever pleasures about which we might now be tempted to think, “It doesn’t get any better than this!”</p>
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title: If We Lose the Meaning of “Justice,” We Lose the Gospel
topic: Christian Living
author: Amy K. Hall
date: 09/18/2018
source: https://www.str.org/w/if-we-lose-the-meaning-of-justice-we-lose-the-gospel
content:
            <div> 
		<p>Our ability to explain the gospel to people in our culture depends on our culture’s ability to understand the concept of justice. Because of this, over the years I’ve become concerned about a drift in the meaning of the word “justice”—even in Christian circles (see <a href="https://twitter.com/TGC/status/1039245967021809664">here</a> for a recent example), among respected friends I usually agree with—as the term “social justice”&nbsp;is increasingly embraced and used.</p>

<p>I appreciated <a href="https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/blogs/kevin-deyoung/social-justice-gospel-issue/">Kevin DeYoung’s words</a> on this topic last week:</p>

<blockquote>
<p>I have my concerns with the term “social justice”&nbsp;and with all that it connotes. But what if we press for a less culturally controlled and more biblically defined understanding? Several years ago, I worked my way through the major justice passages in the Bible: <a href="http://blogs.thegospelcoalition.org/kevindeyoung/2009/08/28/social-justice-and-poor-2/">Leviticus 19,</a> <a href="http://blogs.thegospelcoalition.org/kevindeyoung/2009/09/18/social-justice-and-poor-3/">Leviticus 25,</a> <a href="http://blogs.thegospelcoalition.org/kevindeyoung/2010/02/25/seven-passages-on-social-justice-1/">Isaiah 1,</a> <a href="http://blogs.thegospelcoalition.org/kevindeyoung/2010/03/03/seven-passages-on-social-justice-2/">Isaiah 58,</a> <a href="http://blogs.thegospelcoalition.org/kevindeyoung/2010/03/11/seven-passages-on-social-justice-3/">Jeremiah 22,</a> <a href="http://blogs.thegospelcoalition.org/kevindeyoung/2010/04/29/seven-passages-on-social-justice-5/">Amos 5,</a> <a href="http://blogs.thegospelcoalition.org/kevindeyoung/2010/05/27/seven-passages-on-social-justice-6/">Micah 6:8,</a> <a href="http://blogs.thegospelcoalition.org/kevindeyoung/2010/04/13/seven-passages-on-social-justice-4/">Matthew 25:31–46,</a> and <a href="https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/blogs/kevin-deyoung/seven-passages-on-social-justice-7/">Luke 4.</a> My less-than-exciting conclusion was that we should not oversell or undersell what the Bible says about justice. On the one hand, there is a lot in the Bible about God’s care for the poor, the oppressed, and the vulnerable. There are also plenty of warnings against treating the helpless with cruelty and disrespect. On the other hand, justice, as a biblical category, is not synonymous with anything and everything we feel would be good for the world. Doing justice means following the rule of law, showing impartiality, paying what you promised, not stealing, not swindling, not taking bribes, and not taking advantage of the weak because they are too uninformed or unconnected to stop you.</p>
</blockquote>

<p>I agree with DeYoung’s description of justice in the Bible. The word “justice”&nbsp;is the language of rights. As DeYoung explained, “Justice, as a biblical category, is not synonymous with anything and everything we feel would be good for the world,”&nbsp;though our culture is beginning to use it that way. Rather, it refers to receiving what you’re <em>owed</em> by right and not taking from others what is theirs by right. My concern with the term “social justice”&nbsp;is this: It muddies the true meaning of justice by smuggling in the concept of rights where that concept shouldn’t apply, turning charity into what is owed, and this has implications for the gospel (more on this in a moment).</p>

<h2>Giving Is Not a Matter of Justice</h2>

<p>Giving your money to the poor is not justice; it’s mercy. Taking <em>other people’s</em> money by force (whether through the government or any other means) and giving it to the poor is neither justice <em>nor</em> mercy; it’s injustice—it’s taking what someone else has earned, against his will, for either yourself or others. Does this mean giving to the poor is wrong? Of course not! Should the rich man give to the poor? Absolutely! A good man does what is good. A good man shows compassion. A good man sacrifices his comfort willingly for the sake of others. (Just look at Jesus, who is our ultimate model of this kind of love and grace.) A <em>bad</em> man hoards his wealth and has no compassion on the needy. Not giving to others is <em>wrong</em>. But the fact that it’s wrong doesn’t make giving a matter of <em>justice</em>. This is because “justice”&nbsp;refers to a particular good thing, not every good thing, and <em>giving</em> is simply in a separate category from <em>justice</em>.</p>

<p>Justice is receiving what you have earned or what you are owed by right—whether good or bad. Receiving the money you have earned is justice. Taking money that someone else has earned is injustice. <em>Giving</em> is something different altogether. When you give, you are not giving a person what he has earned; you are graciously showing mercy out of love. To say that giving is a matter of justice is to create a false sense in our culture that one is entitled to another person’s grace—that rich people who earned their money lawfully <em>owe</em> money to the poor, i.e., that it’s a matter of <em>justice</em>. There are some categories of political ideas that <em>do</em> argue that wealth equality is a matter of justice (i.e., that the poor are <em>owed</em> the money of the rich for various reasons), but I don’t think there’s any biblical basis for this.</p>

<h2>Why Does This Matter?</h2>

<p>Why should this matter to us as Christians? It matters because one can only understand the gospel if one understands the true meaning of justice—i.e., receiving, without bias or partiality, what one has rightfully earned, whether good or bad. We dare not confuse the categories of justice and grace because understanding the gospel depends on understanding the distinction between justice (receiving what one has earned) and grace (receiving good things one has <em>not</em> earned). Consider Romans 4:1–16:</p>

<blockquote>
<p>What then shall we say that Abraham, our forefather according to the flesh, has found? For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about, but not before God. For what does the Scripture say? “Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness.”&nbsp;<strong>Now to the one who works, his wage is not credited as a favor, but as what is due. But to the one who does not work, but believes in Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is credited as righteousness</strong>, just as David also speaks of the blessing on the man to whom God credits righteousness apart from works....</p>

<p><strong>For the promise to Abraham or to his descendants that he would be heir of the world was not through the Law, but through the righteousness of faith. For if those who are of the Law are heirs, faith is made void and the promise is nullified</strong>; for the Law brings about wrath, but where there is no law, there also is no violation.</p>

<p><strong>For this reason it is by faith, in order that it may be in accordance with grace, so that the promise will be guaranteed to all the descendants</strong>, not only to those who are of the Law, but also to those who are of the faith of Abraham, who is the father of us all.</p>
</blockquote>

<p>As soon as one starts to believe that “justice”&nbsp;entails everyone receiving the same benefits regardless of what is <em>earned</em> (or, to put it another way, people <em>who have more</em> giving what they have lawfully earned to those <em>who have less</em>), one starts to presume on <em>grace</em>, and not just human grace. As the meaning of “justice”&nbsp;has changed in our culture (due to the popularizing of the particular political beliefs referred to above), I’ve seen this presumption on God’s grace increase: “It’s not fair that God saves some by grace and not others! Justice demands that He save everyone equally!”</p>

<p>The more the line between justice and grace is blurred, the more difficulty people will have understanding both what they <em>deserve</em> according to their sin and the incredible <em>undeserved</em> beauty of the grace of God. We can’t explain either of these concepts if our culture has lost the true meaning of “justice,”&nbsp;for we will have no distinct word to describe <em>receiving what we have earned</em>. And, by extension, we will also lose the meaning of “grace”&nbsp;since one can’t comprehend God’s amazing grace if receiving from God what is <em>not</em> earned is considered to be a matter of justice (i.e., something God owes to everyone).</p>

<h2>The Gospel Requires a Clear Distinction between Justice and Grace</h2>

<p>Can you see the problem? The gospel requires a clear distinction between these two concepts. Both justice and grace are good, and they each play a distinct and necessary part in the gospel. Justice—i.e., people receiving what is <em>owed</em> to them according to their works—is a good thing in itself, but there is no hope for us there. God’s <em>justice</em>, on its own, can only be a cause of despair, for it demands that the punishment we’ve earned for every sin be meted out fully and perfectly. By contrast, it’s because of God’s gracious <em>giving</em> that we receive the free gift of salvation that we didn’t earn and don’t deserve, at the cost of Jesus’&nbsp;fulfillment of that perfect justice on our behalf. This is the message of the gospel.</p>

<blockquote>
<p>But now <strong>apart from the Law</strong> [grace] the righteousness of God has been manifested, being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets, even the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all those who believe...for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, being justified as a gift by His grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus; whom God displayed publicly <strong>as a propitiation</strong> [justice] in His blood through faith...so that He would be <strong>just and the justifier</strong> [justice <em>and</em> grace, separate and distinct concepts] of the one who has faith in Jesus. (Rom 3:21–26)</p>
</blockquote>

<p>In the same way, though justice in the economic realm—i.e., people receiving what is <em>owed</em> to them according to their work—is good in itself, if there were <em>only</em> justice, the poor would despair because they would receive only what they earned. Thankfully, in economic matters as well as the gospel, there is not only justice; there is also grace. And because of grace, we each willingly give to the poor what they <em>have not earned</em>, at our own cost, and this is also good. But it is not justice; it’s grace.</p>

<p>Confusing the two <em>terms</em> in economic situations leads to a confusion between the <em>concepts—</em>a confusion that affects not only economics, but also Christian theology, preventing comprehension of the gospel.</p>

<p>Make no mistake, the two categories are separate. Grace is not justice. The gospel depends on it.</p>
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title: Learn How to Talk about Gender
topic: Sexuality and Gender
author: Alan Shlemon
date: 09/11/2018
source: https://www.str.org/w/learn-how-to-talk-about-gender
content:
            <div> 
		<p>Do you want to improve your ability to speak intelligently about gender? My friend <a href="https://www.brianseagraves.com/" target="_blank">Brian Seagraves</a> recently wrote a great little book called <em><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Gender-Conversation-Guide-Building-Foundations/dp/0996809716" target="_blank">Gender: A Conversation Guide</a></em>. It’s not merely a book about the subject of gender; it’s a guide that provides practical conversation tips to help equip the next generation to confidently stand for biblical truth and compassionately share it with those they know.</p>

<p>It’s super concise, so you can read it and get a lot of practical advice in an hour or so. In light of the culture we’re in that’s lost its ability to think clearly about gender, I think this is a helpful tool. And you can’t beat the price of under $5.</p>
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title: Why Is There Something Rather Than Nothing?
topic: Philosophy
author: Amy K. Hall
date: 10/05/2018
source: https://www.str.org/w/why-is-there-something-rather-than-nothing-
content:
            <div> 
		<p>Why does anything at all exist? William Lane Craig says,</p>

<blockquote>
<p>This is the deepest question of philosophy: Why is there something rather than nothing? This mystery, which, according to Aristotle, lay at the very root of philosophy, is one which even thoughtful naturalists cannot avoid. [Atheist philosopher] Derek Parfit, for example, agrees, and I <a href="https://www.lrb.co.uk/v20/n02/derek-parfit/why-anything-why-this">quote</a>, “No question is more sublime than why there is a Universe: why there is anything rather than nothing.”</p>
</blockquote>

<p>In the brief video below (excerpted from a longer lecture on “<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KbbE8ZLzcRk">The Evidence for God</a>”), Dr. Craig responds to this question, arguing that the universe requires an explanation (i.e., a reason for its existence), and the universe requires a cause.</p>

<div class="embed-responsive embed-responsive-16by9" data-embed-id="45iWxNqbM9I" data-styles="{&quot;width&quot;:&quot;100%&quot;}" style="width:100%"><iframe allow="encrypted-media" allowfullscreen="" class="embed-responsive-item" frameborder="0" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/45iWxNqbM9I?rel=0" tabindex="0"></iframe></div>

<p>If you need help introducing these ideas to your friends, the above video is a good way to get a conversation started. For additional simple (and sharable!) explanations of this topic, see these videos on the <a href="https://www.str.org/blog/the-contingency-argument#.W7er2hNKijQ">contingency argument</a> and the <a href="https://www.str.org/blog/a-simple-explanation-of-the-cosmological-argument#.W7e2NxNKijQ">cosmological argument</a>.</p>
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title: Our Verseless Bibles
topic: Theology
author: Greg Koukl
date: 09/25/2018
source: https://www.str.org/w/our-verseless-bibles
content:
            <div> 
		<p>Let me offer you a warning that will vastly improve your ability to understand Scripture, if you heed it. It’s an insight for every person who has ever asked, “How does this verse apply to my life?”&nbsp;<em>Here it is: There are no verses in the Bible.</em> Nope. Not a one. At least, not in the original, and that’s the Bible that matters.</p>

<p>First, a definition. A “verse”&nbsp;is a passage of Scripture distinguished from other passages of Scripture by a numerical address (e.g., John 3:16, famously). Those numbers, though, were not in the original, but were inserted nearly sixteen centuries later by French printer Robert Stephanus in 1551.</p>

<h2>Beware the Numbers</h2>

<p>There’s good news and bad news about verse numbers. The good news is it’s easier to find stuff. The bad news is it’s easier to get stuff wrong. Verse numbers tempt readers to take a passage as a collection of discrete statements having meaning and application in isolation from the larger work (“How does <em>this verse</em> apply to my life?”).</p>

<p>Take a verse like “The Lord will fight for you while you keep silent”&nbsp;(Ex. 14:14). It wasn’t meant by Moses as a stand-alone promise. Sure, the Red Sea <em>narrative</em> has plenty of relevance for New Testament believers, but this <em>individual verse</em> has no application to any Christian isolated from its context. Simply put, it’s not our promise.</p>

<p>In fact, standing on their own, most “verses”&nbsp;have absolutely no application to anyone’s life. That’s because most of the time the precise point of a verse cannot be found in the verse itself but in the relationship of that verse to verses above and below it. We can’t simply isolate a line or two and ask, “How can I stick this line into my life?”</p>

<p>Here’s why. God did not give us 66 books of short, pithy sayings to be applied piecemeal to our lives (with a few exceptions, e.g., much of Proverbs). Most of Scripture is narrative - story. Most of the rest - NT epistles, for example - is argument (making a case) or instruction. Each of these - narrative, argument, instruction - involves a <em>flow of thought</em> within the passage from the larger part to the smaller part.</p>

<p>Chapters help us understand a <em>paragraph’s</em> role in the larger narrative. Paragraphs help us understand what a <em>sentence</em> means. Sentences help us understand individual <em>word</em> meanings. The account <em>taken as a whole</em>, then, has instructive value, not necessarily a verse standing by itself. That’s why at Stand to Reason we follow the rule “<a href="/w/never-read-a-bible-verse">Never read <em>a</em> Bible verse</a>.”&nbsp;Always read a paragraph (at least) before drawing conclusions about meaning.</p>

<h2>Beware Section Headings</h2>

<p>The same warning goes for section titles added by Bible editors. Headings can be helpful, but they can be harmful, too, by severing material from the larger flow of thought that’s important to the meaning of a passage the heading has now isolated.</p>

<p>Take Jesus’&nbsp;teaching on the Good Samaritan. Read Luke 10:30-37 without reading the six verses that precede the heading “The Good Samaritan”&nbsp;that you’ll find in some Bibles, and you’ll miss <em>why</em> Jesus told the Samaritan tale in the first place. Which means you’ll completely miss the point of the parable - and most do (hint: it’s not about loving your enemy) - because Jesus’&nbsp;main point hinges on a critical phrase in verse 29.</p>

<h2>Start Big, Then Get Small</h2>

<p>So, beware. A really good idea almost five centuries ago had a bad consequence that can sabotage your understanding of Scripture. I suggest you ignore the artificial divisions (chapters, verses, headings) and focus on the larger narrative, argument, or instruction. Start big, then get small. Look at the larger flow of thought, then zoom in on the particulars.</p>
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title: California Lawmakers Decide the Unique Contributions of Women Matter Now
topic: Christian Living
author: Amy K. Hall
date: 09/12/2018
source: https://www.str.org/w/california-lawmakers-decide-the-unique-contributions-of-women-matter-now-
content:
            <div> 
		<p>A California bill mandating a quota for women on corporate boards is ready to be signed into law. The Ventura County Star <a href="https://www.vcstar.com/story/news/2018/08/31/california-verge-mandating-women-boards/1167633002/">reports</a>:</p>

<blockquote>
<p>California could soon become the first state in the nation to require public companies based within the state to have at least one woman on their boards...</p>

<p>If [Gov.] Brown signs the bill - passed 23-9 by the Senate on Thursday and 41-26 by the Assembly on Wednesday - the one-woman mandate will take effect by the end of 2019...</p>

<p>“One-fourth of California’s publicly traded companies still do not have a single woman on their board, <em>despite numerous independent studies that show companies with women on their board are more profitable and productive</em>,”&nbsp;said Jackson, D-Santa Barbara, in a statement. “The time has come for California to bring gender equity to our corporate boards.”&nbsp;[Emphasis added.]</p>
</blockquote>

<p>Men and women bring important differences to the table, they say - differences that affect the success of corporate entities.</p>

<p>Can you spot the glaring inconsistency? Aren’t these lawmakers the same people who despised Californians’&nbsp;vote to require gender diversity in <em>marriage</em> - a diversity argued for on the same basis of the innate <a href="https://www.str.org/blog/it-s-about-the-difference-between-men-and-women#.W5g7jpMzrdc">differences</a> between <a href="https://www.str.org/blog/fathers-don-t-mother#.W5hEt5Mzrdc">men and women</a> - and is this not the same governor who <a href="https://www.str.org/blog/marriage-redefinition-without-representation#.W5gzt5Mzrdc">refused to defend that vote</a> before the Supreme Court?</p>

<p>Here is what I pointed out <a href="https://www.str.org/blog/gender-diversity-leadership#.W5gxbJMzrdd">back in 2012</a> in response to an article arguing that companies need gender diversity on their boards in order to flourish:</p>

<blockquote>
<p>[W]hat if we move from business to another institution? What if we’re talking about <em>marriages</em> that exclude women and the diversity they bring? Then there’s no problem? Nothing is lost? Suddenly men and women are interchangeable? Aren’t the differences in their perspectives and contributions even <em>more</em> <a href="http://www.thepoachedegg.net/the-poached-egg/2012/05/apologetics-science-discovers-the-importance-of-motherhood.html">relevant</a> when it comes to the relationships within the family - the institution responsible for creating and socializing the next generation? Why is it bigotry to argue for governmental support of diversity on the basis of the differences between men and women in one case, but not the other?</p>
</blockquote>

<p>The unique contributions of women are absolutely necessary to every organization, says California. But if you apply that very same principle to marriage, you’re a bigot.</p>
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title: Explaining God’s Love to Muslims
topic: Other Worldviews
author: Amy K. Hall
date: 09/14/2018
source: https://www.str.org/w/explaining-god-s-love-to-muslims
content:
            <div> 
		<p>In explaining the difference between God’s love in Islam vs. Christianity, <a href="https://thecripplegate.com/the-difference-between-the-love-of-the-god-of-the-quran-the-bible/">Eric Davis says</a>, “The greatest difference between the Qur’an and the Bible comes down to the death of Christ for our sin.”&nbsp;As 1 John 4:10 explains, “In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins.”&nbsp;Why does this make all the difference?</p>

<blockquote>
<p>God is a holy God. He loathes sin with righteous anger. And he must loathe sin because he is good; not relatively good, but absolutely good...</p>

<p>Can we simply be forgiven? The God of the Qur’an is said to be “all-forgiving, most merciful”&nbsp;(Surah 24:22). On the surface this seems loving. But it is not only lacking, but a fictitious forgiveness because it is a forgiveness without propitiation. If God is holy and just, then the only way to forgive is by propitiation through a righteous substitute.</p>

<p>Imagine a thief, rapist, and murder brought before a judge and he says, “Well, you’re all forgiven because I am all-forgiving and most merciful.”&nbsp;This would be an extraordinarily wicked judge. He releases the wicked apart from justice. Notwithstanding his claims to be all-forgiving and most merciful, he’s as bad as the criminals. But if that judge brought in a righteous substitute to receive the just sentence for each of those criminals, then the judge would uphold the law by forgiving justly.</p>

<p>To be sure, the God of the Bible is all-forgiving and most merciful. He forgives and forgives and forgives because he is loving. But how? How can a God of blazing holiness forgive even one monstrously depraved rebel like a human? Propitiation. Propitiation gives wheels and movement to the sovereign love of God. There can be a love from God in common grace towards his enemies (cf. <a href="https://biblia.com/bible/esv/Matt.%205.44-47">Matt. 5:44-47</a>), but propitiation-rendering forgiveness sends love to a jaw-dropping magnitude...</p>

<p>When we speak to Muslims, we must speak of the tangible and terrible love of God in propitiation through the finished work of Christ. For a deity to be deity - truly deity in holiness, righteousness, and love - he must love in propitiation, or he cannot love at all.</p>
</blockquote>

<p>I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again: The cross amazes me with its brilliance. <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=rom+3%3A21-26&amp;version=NASB">Romans 3:21-26</a> takes my breath away whenever I think about it:</p>

<blockquote>
<p>[F]or all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, being justified as a gift by His grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus; whom God displayed publicly as a propitiation in His blood through faith. This was to demonstrate His righteousness, because in the forbearance of God He passed over the sins previously committed; for the demonstration, I say, of His righteousness at the present time, <em>so that He would be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus</em>. [Emphasis added.]</p>
</blockquote>

<p>“Because of His great love with which He loved us”&nbsp;(Eph. 2:4), Jesus willingly took the wrath of the Father so that God would remain just while graciously expressing His love through mercy and forgiveness. No other religion has a way to reconcile justice and mercy - either there is forgiveness without justice, or there is justice without forgiveness. Either righteousness suffers, or we suffer for our sins without hope. But at the cross, in love and sacrifice, at His own expense, our God upholds both justice and mercy perfectly, and we see His glory.</p>

<p>Muslims reject the idea that Jesus died on the cross; they don’t understand why God would let His prophet suffer. As Eric Davis points out so beautifully, this is why. Love is why. It’s worth reading <a href="https://thecripplegate.com/the-difference-between-the-love-of-the-god-of-the-quran-the-bible/">the rest of his post</a>.</p>
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title: The Imago Dei in Man
topic: Theology
author: Alan Shlemon
date: 10/05/2018
source: https://www.str.org/w/the-imago-dei-in-man
content:
            <div> 
		<p>The other day, I lifted a cabinet in my garage and saw two rats scurry for cover. That’s not good. I don’t want rats tunneling through my house, leaving feces in my garage, or dying behind the drywall. So, I did what every homeowner does and laid two traps. After a few hours, I heard a loud <em>SNAP!</em> Just an hour later, I caught the second one. Problem solved. Not one cop came after me.</p>

<p>If I accidentally hit a toddler with my car, though, that would be a <em>big</em> problem. The police would get involved, and depending on the circumstances, I could go to jail.</p>

<p>Why? What makes rats so trivial and toddlers so treasured? It’s a single thing that makes a world of difference: the image of God (the <em>imago Dei</em>). The Judeo-Christian worldview teaches that human beings are different from animals not just in <em>degree</em>, but in <em>kind</em>. Animals are creatures, but humans are a special kind of creature, one that is uniquely created in the image of their Creator.</p>

<p>Genesis 1:27 says it succinctly: “God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.”&nbsp;This short verse set the foundation for human rights in Western civilization for the past 2,000 years. It’s why the United States’&nbsp;Declaration of Independence states that “all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights.”</p>

<p>In its attempt to jettison Judeo-Christian values - and, consequently, the idea we’re made in God’s image - society is removing the sole justification for treating humans the way most people demand they be treated: valuable and equal. If there’s no image of God, it follows that people who identify as gay and lesbian aren’t <em>valuable</em>, African Americans don’t deserve to be treated <em>equally</em>, <em>and</em> you can’t claim there’s a <em>right</em> to an abortion.</p>

<p>It’s the ultimate shoot-yourself-in-the-foot move. People haven’t thought through the implications, so let me spell out the significance of Genesis 1:27.</p>

<ol>
	<li><strong>Being made in the image of God makes humans valuable</strong>. If there’s no God, there’s no chance we’re made in His image. That means we’re the result of an impersonal process like evolution. The same blind and mechanical forces that led to a swarm of mosquitos led to humans. Nothing makes mankind more valuable than the 8.7 million other species on this planet. Had humans never evolved, it wouldn’t have mattered because no species matters more than the next. In fact, to suggest humans are special because we’re humans is to be guilty of a form of discrimination known as speciesism. Only if we’re made in God’s image can we be something different than every other living thing.</li>
	<li><strong>Being made in the image of God makes all humans equally valuable</strong>. If there’s no God, then we have no soul and we’re merely material objects. If we’re just physical, though, what one trait does every human share equally that would make sense of the idea that every human is of equal value? Nothing! Some people are taller than others. Some people are better at math than others. Some people have more bone density than others. Different humans have these traits in varying degrees. How can every human - whether African American, Chinese, or Swedish - be equally valuable? Only if we’re made in God’s image is it possible. Notice, that’s not a degreed property. You can’t have more of it or less of it. You either have it or you don’t. It’s the only thing that every human shares equally and that can ground human equality.</li>
	<li><strong>Being made in the image of God gives value to those considered “less than”&nbsp;valuable</strong>. If humans are not endowed with value by God, then what determines human worth? According to societal standards, human worth is based on what people can do: create art, raise children, work at a job, contribute to society, etc. But the moment humans lose the ability to do those things is the precise moment they lose their value. That’s why in a culture that rejects the concept of being made in God’s image, the strong prevail and the weak are discarded. This is most obviously seen when we dispose of bona fide human beings at the early stages of life (abortion), the late stages of life (physician-assisted suicide), and those who are disabled (euthanasia). Devaluing them is tantamount to the most unjust and heinous discrimination possible. But if human worth is not determined by what they can do, but rather by who they are (image bearers of God), then the unborn, elderly, and disabled are as valuable as everyone else.</li>
</ol>

<p>Believing and treating everyone as valuable and equal is something our society takes for granted. They’ve forgotten - to their peril - that such beliefs can only exist if they’re grounded in the reality that humans are made in God’s image. The irony is that many of those who demand equality, rights, and fairness are the very ones who reject God and His image-bearing value.</p>

<p>For example, those who identify as gay and lesbian believe they’re valuable and demand to be treated equally. But if they are not made in God’s image, then there’s nothing to ground their value and, consequently, the equal treatment they deserve. In my assessment, though, they <em>are</em> beautifully created, immensely valuable, and deserving of fair and equal treatment. This view can only be grounded by the idea that they are made in God’s image.</p>

<p>African Americans also demand equal treatment. They claim that every person from every ethnic background is equally valuable to every other person. No one should be discriminated against. I agree 100%. How, however, can you make sense of that view if humans are merely the collection of billions of molecules? Hint: You can’t! But if God stamped every person of every ethnicity with His image on their soul, then every person is equally valuable. The only way Martin Luther King, Jr. was able to ground his claim for the equal rights of African Americans was with the idea that all men are endowed by their Creator with equal value. He was a Baptist pastor, after all. He believed in the image of God, and that truth informed his civil rights advocacy.</p>

<p>This is not to suggest that those who reject our biblical claim aren’t valuable or equal. On the contrary, we believe that those who vigorously oppose us or our ideas are still incredibly valuable, of equal value, and are deserving of rights. We simply want them to see the cost of rejecting the one principle that grounds what they already believe to be true.</p>
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title: Why Knowledge Requires More Than Science
topic: Philosophy
author: Aaron Brake
date: 09/19/2018
source: https://www.str.org/w/why-knowledge-requires-more-than-science
content:
            <div> 
		<p>Epistemology is a branch of philosophy (not science) that deals with how knowledge is defined, what we know, and how we know it. Richard Dawkins summarizes one view of epistemology in the first chapter of his book <em><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Magic-Reality-Know-Whats-Really-ebook/dp/B0078XFYDA/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&amp;ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1537388112&amp;sr=1-1&amp;keywords=the+magic+of+reality">The Magic of Reality: How We Know What’s Really True</a></em>:</p>

<blockquote>
<p>We come to know what is real, then, in one of three ways. We can detect it directly, using our five senses; or indirectly, using our senses aided by special instruments such as telescopes and microscopes; or even more indirectly, by creating models of what <em>might</em> be real and then testing those models to see whether they successfully predict things that we can see (or hear, etc.), with or without the aid of instruments. Ultimately, it always comes back to our senses, one way or another.</p>
</blockquote>

<p>According to this view of epistemology, all knowledge concerning reality comes through the five senses. If you can’t see, touch, taste, smell, or hear it, you can’t know it. How we know what’s true “always comes back to our senses, one way or another.”&nbsp;We can phrase it this way:</p>

<p>All knowledge concerning reality is acquired through the five senses.</p>

<p>The problem with this view is immediately obvious. The belief “all knowledge concerning reality is acquired through the five senses”&nbsp;is not itself acquired through the five senses, i.e., there is nothing you can see, touch, taste, smell, or hear from which you can deduce that all knowledge concerning reality is acquired through the five senses. This is a philosophical claim (not scientific) and cannot be justified or grounded in any sensory experience. The claim is self-refuting.</p>

<h2>Science Is Only One Way to Discover What Is True</h2>

<p>Science is good, but science isn’t everything. Science is only <em>one</em> way to discover what is true, but it is not the <em>only</em> way. Anyone who says otherwise is no longer practicing science but rather “scientism.”&nbsp;This is the view, philosopher J.P. Moreland <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Love-Your-God-All-Mind/dp/1576830160/ref=sr_1_4_twi_pap_1?s=books&amp;ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1537388931&amp;sr=1-4&amp;keywords=love+your+god&amp;dpID=51GSDCKaMvL&amp;preST=_SY344_BO1,204,203,200_QL70_&amp;dpSrc=srch">says</a>, that “science is the only paradigm of truth and rationality...Everything outside of science is a matter of mere belief and subjective opinion, of which rational assessment is impossible.”&nbsp;While there are both weak and strong versions of scientism, Dawkins seems to make his bed in the camp of strong scientism, according to which you can’t know something unless you can prove it scientifically (using, of course, the five senses). This is an attempt to elevate science and sensory experience to an illegitimate and unreasonable level.</p>

<p>No doubt Dawkins’s scientism is influenced by his prior commitment to philosophical naturalism. Ironically, even <em>this</em> commitment (to philosophical naturalism) shows that his philosophy comes before his science, thus again undermining his own self-refuting epistemology. We could ask Dawkins how he knows philosophical naturalism to be true, a belief which would be impossible for him to justify based on anything he can see, touch, taste, smell, or hear. The very fact that Dawkins deals with the topic of epistemology in chapter one of his book <em>before</em> moving on to scientific issues <em>again</em> demonstrates the priority and presumption of philosophy over science (as well as the inability of science to justify his philosophy).</p>

<h2>Science Presupposes Philosophy</h2>

<p>Philosophers of science understand that science is dependent on philosophy, not philosophy on science. You can do philosophy without science, but you can’t do science without philosophy. Even the question “What is science?”&nbsp;is philosophical in nature (not scientific) and therefore should be addressed by philosophers of science. The project of science could not even be undertaken without taking certain philosophical assumptions for granted. In <em><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Love-Your-God-All-Mind/dp/1576830160/ref=sr_1_4_twi_pap_1?s=books&amp;ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1537388931&amp;sr=1-4&amp;keywords=love+your+god&amp;dpID=51GSDCKaMvL&amp;preST=_SY344_BO1,204,203,200_QL70_&amp;dpSrc=srch">Love Your God with All Your Mind</a></em>, J.P. Moreland lists some philosophical presuppositions that science assumes:</p>

<blockquote>
<ul>
	<li>the existence of a theory independent, external world</li>
	<li>the orderly nature of the external world</li>
	<li>the knowability of the external world</li>
	<li>the existence of truth</li>
	<li>the laws of logic</li>
	<li>the reliability of our cognitive and sensory faculties to serve as truth gatherers and as a source of justified beliefs in our intellectual environment</li>
	<li>the adequacy of language to describe the world</li>
	<li>the existence of values used in science (for example, “test theories fairly and report test results honestly”)</li>
	<li>the uniformity of nature and induction</li>
	<li>the existence of numbers and mathematical truths</li>
</ul>
</blockquote>

<p>Not only must science assume the truthfulness of each of these philosophical presuppositions, but sensory experience will <em>never</em> be able to serve as the justification or warrant for these beliefs.</p>

<h2>What Science Can’t Account For</h2>

<p>In a 1998 debate, William Lane Craig faced off against Peter Atkins on the question “<em><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sTJ4m5fhLJg">What is the Evidence For/Against the Existence of God?</a>”</em>&nbsp;During the debate, Peter Atkins made the claim that science can account for everything and is “omnipotent.”&nbsp;When questioned by Atkins regarding what science can’t account for, Craig <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3vnjNbe5lyE">listed the following five examples</a> of things that cannot be scientifically proven but that we are all rational to accept:</p>

<ol>
	<li>Logical and mathematical truths</li>
	<li>Metaphysical truths</li>
	<li>Ethical beliefs about statements of value</li>
	<li>Aesthetic judgments</li>
	<li>Science itself</li>
</ol>

<p>Anyone who espouses scientism has placed himself on the horns of an epistemological dilemma. Either all knowledge concerning reality is acquired through the five senses, or it is not. If all knowledge concerning reality <em>is not</em> acquired through the five senses, then scientism is wrong. But if all knowledge concerning reality <em>is</em> acquired through the five senses, the <em>belief itself</em> that “all knowledge concerning reality is acquired through the five senses”&nbsp;cannot itself be known since <em>that belief</em> is not acquired through the five senses, and so scientism is again wrong. So, if scientism is wrong, it’s wrong; but if it’s right, it’s wrong as well. The epistemology is self-refuting.</p>
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title: Believe in…Something?
topic: Christian Living
author: Amy K. Hall
date: 09/05/2018
source: https://www.str.org/w/believe-in-something-
content:
            <div> 
		<p>Nike’s <a href="https://twitter.com/Kaepernick7/status/1036695513251434498">new ad campaign featuring Colin Kaepernick</a> reads,</p>

<blockquote>
<p>Believe in something. Even if it means sacrificing everything.</p>
</blockquote>

<p>This slogan certainly sounds like something a sincerity-is-all-that-matters culture would come up with, but no one really believes it. Perhaps you’re a fan of Kaepernick so this isn’t immediately clear, but I can prove it to you. Just try looking at this picture of <a href="https://str-legacy.s3.us-west-1.amazonaws.com/images/jackphillips.png">Jack Phillips</a> of Masterpiece Cakeshop. Or this image of <a href="https://dragondoodles.files.wordpress.com/2018/09/bin-laden.png">Bin Laden</a>. Or, my favorite, <a href="https://str-legacy.s3.us-west-1.amazonaws.com/images/thanos.png">Thanos</a>. Parodies are multiplying on the internet, so pick your political villain and behold the absurdity of the Nike slogan.</p>

<p>As a culture, we’ve been living on empty slogans like “Believe in something”&nbsp;for decades (I’m looking at you, Disney and nearly every Christmas movie ever made). Sincerity is not enough. Believing in <em>something</em> is neither commendable nor condemnable in itself. What matters is the <em>content</em> of your belief. What matters is the <em>substance</em> of what you’re living for, what you’re putting your faith—your trust—<em>in</em>.</p>

<p>The apostle Paul understood that belief is only as virtuous as it is true, that our faith is only as good as the trustworthiness of the <em>object</em> of our faith:</p>

<blockquote>
<p>Now if Christ is preached, that He has been raised from the dead, how do some among you say that there is no resurrection of the dead? But if there is no resurrection of the dead, not even Christ has been raised; and <strong>if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is vain, your faith also is vain</strong>. Moreover we are even found to be false witnesses of God, because we testified against God that He raised Christ, whom He did not raise, if in fact the dead are not raised. For if the dead are not raised, not even Christ has been raised; and <strong>if Christ has not been raised, your faith is worthless; you are still in your sins.</strong> Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. If we have hoped in Christ in this life only, we are of all men most to be pitied. (1 Cor. 15:12-19)</p>
</blockquote>

<p>Don’t just sacrifice everything for <em>something</em>. Consider, first, what is true, trustworthy, and worthy of your life. If you do that, I’m convinced you will say with Paul:</p>

<blockquote>
<p>I count all things to be loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them but rubbish so that I may gain Christ. (Phil. 3:8)</p>
</blockquote>
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title: Why Does It Matter if God Is a Trinity?
topic: Theology
author: Amy K. Hall
date: 08/15/2018
source: https://www.str.org/w/why-does-it-matter-if-god-is-a-trinity-
content:
            <div> 
		<p>Last week, a student asked me about a challenge she received from a Muslim: Why does it matter if God is a Trinity? I’ve written before about how God’s Trinitarian nature <a href="/w/how-the-triune-nature-of-god-draws-us-into-prayer">affects prayer</a> (I highly recommend the book quoted in that post, <em><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Delighting-Trinity-Introduction-Christian-Faith/dp/0830839836/ref=sr_1_2_twi_pap_2?ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1516859138&amp;sr=8-2&amp;keywords=delighting+in+the+trinity">Delighting in the Trinity</a></em> ), and here’s more from Justin Dillehay on “<a href="https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/article/two-reasons-trinity-matters/">Two Reasons the Trinity Matters</a>”:</p>

<blockquote>
<p>[T]he kind of God we have determines the kind of relationship we will have with him.</p>

<p>For example: Is your God an all-sufficient fountain of joy and love with an inexhaustible supply available for you anytime? Or did your God create you and save you because he was lonely and needed you? It depends. Is your God the unitarian God of Arianism (think <a href="https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/article/9-things-you-should-know-about-mormonism/">Mormons</a> and <a href="https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/article/9-things-you-should-know-about-jehovahs-witnesses/">Jehovah’s Witnesses</a>), modalism, or <a href="https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/article/10-things-every-christian-should-know-about-islam/">Islam</a>? Or is he the biblical three-in-one? The God of John’s Gospel was never lonely, because even in the beginning, before anything made was made, he already had someone with him. “The Word was with God”&nbsp;(<a href="https://biblia.com/bible/esv/John%201.1">John 1:1</a>).</p>

<p>This is good news, because it tells us God didn’t create us because he needed somebody to love. He wasn’t without family. He was already a Father. And he already had an eternally begotten Son, the radiance of his glory and the exact imprint of his nature (<a href="https://biblia.com/bible/esv/Heb.%201.3">Heb. 1:3</a>), lying in his bosom (<a href="https://biblia.com/bible/esv/John%201.18">John 1:18</a>) and basking in his love (<a href="https://biblia.com/bible/esv/John%2017.24">John 17:24</a>). You and I aren’t the result of some man-shaped hole in the Father’s heart; rather, you and I represent the overflow of the Father’s eternal love for his Son - as though the Father had said, “Son, this love of ours is just too good to keep to ourselves. So together with our eternal Spirit, let us make man in our own image, so that others might see and experience our love, and so that you might be the firstborn among many brothers”&nbsp;(cf. <a href="https://biblia.com/bible/esv/Gen.%201.26">Gen. 1:26</a>; <a href="https://biblia.com/bible/esv/Rom.%208.29">Rom. 8:29</a>).</p>

<p>Is the Trinity practical? Let me ask you - what kind of salvation does your gospel give you? A judge who forgives your sins? Not bad. But not good enough. The triune gospel is better by far. It’s God giving <em>himself</em> to you in creation and redemption. The same Son who was begotten by the Father before all worlds was sent by the Father into this world, to live and die for us and our salvation. And the same Spirit who proceeded from the Father and the Son from all eternity was sent by the Father and the Son into this world, to live inside us and bring us to Christ - and through Christ to the Father - so that we might be taken into his family, surrounded by his life and love, to glorify and enjoy him forever.</p>

<p>It’s more than forgiveness. It’s joining an eternal family. It’s being conformed to the image of the Son by the Spirit (<a href="https://biblia.com/bible/esv/Rom.%208.29">Rom. 8:29</a>) and becoming a partaker of the divine nature (<a href="https://biblia.com/bible/esv/2%20Pet.%201.4">2 Pet. 1:4</a>). In short, it’s the kind of salvation that <em>only</em> the trinitarian God can offer.</p>
</blockquote>

<p>Read the rest of what he has to say <a href="https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/article/two-reasons-trinity-matters/">here</a>, and see, also, “<a href="/w/our-existence-as-relational-beings-points-to-the-trinity">Our Existence as Relational Beings Points to the Trinity</a>.”</p>
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