Monday, September 30, 2013

The Glory of God in Creation: Octopus

This is pretty awesome video of some of the most creative handiwork of God in his creation.


HT: Denny Burk

Wednesday, September 18, 2013

Chemical Weapons: Do We Have the Moral High Ground?

As I watched the President's address to the nation a little over a week ago concerning Syria and the use of chemical weapons, I was struck by something. By God's grace, our president has had the wisdom and moral ability to declare the use of chemical weapons on innocent men, women and children an outrage. We cannot turn a blind eye to such horror and evil. He called our nation to action saying, “with modest effort and risk, we can stop children from being gassed to death and thereby make our own children safer over the long run . . . .”

But, the fact is that we do turn a blind eye in this country to the use of chemical weapons on innocent children. In fact, they are used on children who have absolutely no where to run and, who though they are hidden from sight, have no where to hide from impending destruction. The safety of the mother's womb is often turned into a death chamber, and the doctors who swear to protect patients only listen to the patient with a voice while ignoring the one who cannot speak. Hundreds of thousands of children are killed by chemical and medical abortions each year in this country.

Pray for our President to see our national hypocrisy on this issue. Ask God to give him grace to see the blood of the innocent that we are spilling. And ask that God might give him courage to use his position as president to "make our own children safer over the long run...." 

If you are interested, here is an letter at the Desiring God blog to the President that communicates similar ideas entitled "Protect the Children from Chemical Weapons."

Monday, September 16, 2013

"How to Destroy Your Marriage Before it Begins"

 In a helpful article entitled "How to Destroy Your Marriage Before it Begins," Garrett Kell, discusses how Satan seeks to "corrupt gospel-portraying" marriage by attacking couples through sexual sin before they are married. His whole article is worth the read, but here are a few thoughts that stood out to me:

Satan wants us to make a pattern of obeying our desires instead of God's direction.

God's ways are good, but Satan wants us to believe they aren't. This has been his plan from the first call to compromise in the garden (Gen. 3:1-6). His end goal is for us to develop a consistent pattern of resisting the Spirit and following our sinful desires once we get into marriage. He wants us to learn to resist service and to pursue selfishness....

...Love in marriage is shown by a thousand daily decisions to do what you don't want—whether doing the dishes or changing a diaper or watching a movie instead of a basketball game. If your relationship before marriage is characterized by giving into urges of immediate desire, you'll most certainly struggle when you encounter the nitty-gritty of married life. ....

Satan wants couples to weaken their trust in one another.

When we compromise sexually, we're showing the other person we're willing to use and abuse them to get what makes us happy. Every time we push the boundaries with our fiancée or lead her into sin we are communicating, though we don't mean to, "You can't trust me because I'm willing to use and disregard you to get what I want."
He ends by giving several good thoughts, one of which I will quote here:
Involve others every step of the way. Don't let your relationship remain unexamined by other godly Christians. Both of you should have a godly couple or group of faithful friends who hold you accountable. Invite tough questions and give honest answers. God uses transparency to give strength.
Perhaps you have already sinned in this area. Look to the gospel message Christian. The Christian life is one of continual repentance and trust in Christ. Repent of your sin, turn from it, and trust in Jesus' perfect life and payment for your sin as your only hope before God.  Where sin is repented of and Christ is clung to, grace abounds.

Monday, September 9, 2013

"Dealing with Disappointment When You Are Single"

Here is a helpful video from Steve Dewitt about how to face disappointment when it comes to your singleness.
(HT Challies)


Tuesday, September 3, 2013

Labor Day and a Theology of Rest

Here is a good article to read for labor day. It is by Al Mohler and reminds us that we should have a biblical perspective on leisure and rest.

Monday, September 2, 2013

Must We Handover Conscience for Citizenship?

In an article at his blog entitled "'It is the Price of Citizenship'?—An Elegy for Religious Liberty in America," Dr. Albert Mohler discusses a recent case in New Mexico where a Christian couple  lost a case at that state's supreme court. The couple refused to photograph a homosexual commitment ceremony (gay marriage is not legal there yet) citing the fact that as Christians such particpation would give implicit agreement to the event. In essence, the court's verdict requires Christians to be willing to take pictures at a commitment ceremony for a homosexual couple.

Mohler notes
The court concluded: “When Elane Photography refused to photograph a same-sex commitment ceremony, it violated the NMHRA [New Mexico Human Rights Act] in the same way as if it had refused to photograph a wedding between people of different races.” 
[You may want to read the blog "Is Gay the New Black" if you are wondering about this argument]

Such argumentation is, at this point, "old hat." What makes the decision so breath taking is the fact that the justices recognize that the photographers' religious liberty and conscience are being violated but simply say it is the new price of citizenship. Justice Bosson wrote:

As devout, practicing Christians, they believe, as a matter of faith, that certain commands of the Bible are not left open to secular interpretation; they are meant to be obeyed. Among these commands, according to the Huguenins [the Christian couple], is an injunction against same-sex marriage. On the record before us, no one has questioned the Huguenin’s [sic] devoutness or their sincerity; their religious convictions deserve our respect. In the words of their legal counsel, the Huguenins “believed that creating photographs telling the story of that event [a same-sex wedding] would express a message contrary to their sincerely held beliefs, and that doing so would disobey God.” If honoring same-sex marriage would so conflict with their fundamental religious tenets . . . how then, they ask, can the State of New Mexico compel them to “disobey God” in this case?
 Then he goes on to write,
“At its heart, this case teaches that at some point in our lives all of us must compromise, if only a little, to accommodate the contrasting values of others....In short, I would say to the Huguenins [the Christian couple], with the utmost respect: it is the price of citizenship.” 

Simply breathtaking. Mohler summarizes it well in his article when he says,
So the price of citizenship is the denial of religious liberty when the Christian convictions of this couple run into a head-on collision with the “contrasting values” of others. This is a “compromise” that requires the Huguenins [the Christian photographers] to give up their convictions or go out of business. What does the “compromise” require of those who push for the normalization of same-sex relationships and the legalization of same-sex marriage? Nothing.
Some compromise.