Science: We Need Dads
Posted on April 14, 2014 in Family, Marriage by Derick Dickens
New research has concluded what most of us already knew: children need fathers.
There is a myriad of evidence that shows a father in the home reduces violent crime, produces a better social environment, and provides essential growth opportunities. However, researchers have questioned the need for fathers thinking they only provide more parenting, not distinct and unique parenting.
New research conducted by Professor David Eggebeen of Penn State University, uncovers the unique impact fathers have on their children that is pointing researchers to the conclusion that fathers do not merely give more parenting, but distinct and unique parenting needed by children of both sexes.
Fathers do not merely give more parenting, but distinct and unique parenting needed by children of both sexes.
In his research, Dr. Eggebeen found 60 different links from parenting factors and teen outcomes and found that while mothers and fathers do have significant overlap, there are a significant 20 factors and outcomes unique to a father’s role. Continue reading…
“Government Every Citizen Should Fear” Supreme Court Ruling Strikes Blow to Religious Freedom
Posted on April 14, 2014 in Public Policy, Religious Freedom by Nathan Cherry
Christians now have every reason to fear their government.
That is the general sentiment after the Supreme Court refused to hear the case of Elane Photography after the disastrous ruling by the New Mexico Supreme Court. Here’s what you need to know and where the case currently stands.
Elaine Huguenin refused to render services to a homosexual couple that asked her to photograph their same-sex ceremony. She cited her religious convictions and said she simply could not in accordance with her faith photograph their ceremony. The couple sued Elane Photography for discrimination based on sexual orientation. After years in the court system the New Mexico Supreme Court finally ruled against Elane Photography for discrimination and fined her.
In that disastrous ruling one justice even went so far as to say that such convictions and fines were the “price of citizenship” in America.
The case was appealed to the United States Supreme Court where religious liberty advocates hoped the court would not only hear the case, but reverse the ruling, thereby preserving religious freedom and liberty. The Supreme Court has declined to hear the case. By declining to hear the case the Supreme Court has effectively upheld the New Mexico State Supreme Court ruling which punishes Elaine Huguenin for trying to live according to her religious convictions.
What is at stake in this case and others like it is more than merely photographs at a wedding. Continue reading…
What is the Role of Youth Ministry in the Church?
Posted on April 13, 2014 in Family by Derick Dickens
You may not have realized it, but there is a vibrant debate concerning youth ministry. On the one end, some people believe there is a greater need for youth ministry to stop the growing secularization of our kids. On the other side of the debate, there are families abandoning the youth ministry seeing it as intrusive and problematic.
Acknowledging that there can be some benefit to having a ministry to a particular group within the church (Acts 6:1, Titus 2:3-4), the challenge to us is to consider the role of youth ministry in our churches.
From my perspective, there is a need for youth ministry to: Continue reading…
A View of Women the Feminist Movement Forgot
Posted on April 12, 2014 in Family, Marriage by Derick Dickens
Filing for divorce twice as often as men, women most often say it is due to ‘mental cruelty’ (Source: Why women leave men). It seems that in most all statistics, women are worse off as a whole. They are seeing the highest levels of poverty ( Source: National Women’s Law Center), out of wedlock births (Source: National Review), and one in three women will have an abortion in their lifetime (Source: Guttmacher Institute).
It demands us to ask some serious questions. Has the last century of women’s rights not touched the home? Has women’s equality not turned the tide of divorce? Has it not lifted women out of poverty instead of sinking them further into poverty? Women’s equality has failed precisely because it is misplaced from the Biblical understanding of women. It has failed precisely because it misunderstands the honor God has given to women.
In short, if you think women are equal to men, then you have too low of a view of women. Women are not merely equal, they are to be honored and esteemed unlike that of a man.
Honoring women is not merely my opinion, but this is the Christian ethic. It is why men traditionally bent on one knee to ask for a woman’s hand in marriage, men would open the door for her, and men willingly sacrificed their life to save a woman. Continue reading…
New York City Says Churches Can’t Use Public Schools
Posted on April 11, 2014 in Religious Freedom by Nathan Cherry
The case of the Bronx Household of Faith is a storied one that has spanned decades. It began when the New York City Board of Education changed a city policy forbidding churches to rent public schools for church services. Other organizations may rent public schools, only churches were barred from using them. The Bronx Household of Faith sued the city for unfairly targeting the free exercise of religion.
In 2012 a lower court granted a full injunction which barred the city policy from taking effect, this allowed the churches to continue meeting in schools pending the ruling by the 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals. The 2nd Circuit reversed the lower court ruling last week and allowed the city policy to take effect. Without intervention by the full 2nd Circuit or the U.S. Supreme Court churches in New York City will now be homeless.
The good news is that newly elected mayor Bill de Blasio has said he supports allowing churches to meet in schools like everyone else. In fact he made such statements more than once during his campaign. After the ruling Mayor de Blasio was quoted as saying:
“I stand by my belief that a faith organization playing by the same rules as any community nonprofit deserves access. They have to go through the same application process, wait their turn for space, pay the same rent. But I think they deserve access. They play a very, very important role in terms of providing social services and other important community services, and I think they deserve that right. But we’ll assess the court decision and we’ll look from there.” Continue reading…
Marriage in 13 States Being Attacked from Within – West Virginia Will Soon Follow
Posted on April 10, 2014 in Marriage by Nathan Cherry
See if you can stay with me as I recap the last year of political activism regarding marriage.
First we heard about the attorney general in Pennsylvania that simply could not bring herself to defend her state’s marriage amendment. Even though she swore to uphold the law of her state, she refused.
Next came newly elected Virginia Attorney General Mark Herring who very quickly after taking office said he would not defend the voter-approved marriage protection amendment in his state.
Then we watched as a federal judge struck down the marriage protection amendment in Oklahoma. Soon after a federal judge in Utah did the same thing. Then Kentucky saw a judge strike down part of their marriage protection amendment, no doubt paving the way for the entire amendment to be discarded.
Right now a challenge to Colorado’s marriage protection amendment has been filed and is awaiting court hearing. Unlike many states, the attorney general in Colorado plans to defend state laws because “It is the job of the Attorney General’s Office to defend our state laws, and we will defend against this new lawsuit as we would any other.”
Oregon Attorney General Ellen Rosenblum is the most recent to say she will not defend her state’s marriage protection amendment. Soon after we heard about the shocking news that a judge in Texas struck down the lone-star states voter approved marriage amendment. Continue reading…
If You Worship Your Kids There’s a Good Chance You’re Ruining Their Life. And Yours!
Posted on April 9, 2014 in Family by Nathan Cherry
Can I let you in on a little secret? It’s one of those things everybody used to know but somewhere along the way it got lost and now it seems fewer and fewer people know this; but it’s no less true today than it ever was. The big secret is this: kids are not the center of the universe!
In the past I’ve written on the danger of becoming a narcissistic parent. But on the opposite end of the spectrum, and equally as dangerous, is falling into the trap of worshipping your kids and believing they are the center of the universe. Countless well-meaning parents fall victim to this idea that children are the center of the home and parents are simply there to serve them. One prominent family advocate shares this message:
“You think we might have created a culture (without intending to) in which we’ve ended up worshipping our children? The assumption in so many families is that the child is the center of the home, and that the parents are there to serve the child and ensure his or her perpetual happiness.”
But this is neither healthy nor is it biblical. There’s not one verse in Scripture commanding parents to make their kids happy – or entertain them. We do see verses about training kids (Prov. 22:6), loving kids (Titus 2:4), raising them in the discipline and instruction of God (Eph. 6:4), encouraging them (Col. 3:21), requiring obedience (Col. 3:20), and imparting spiritual truth daily (Deut. 6:6-9). But nowhere is there one verse about making them happy, entertaining them, or even buying them anything they want.
Do any of these scenarios sound familiar to you? Continue reading…
Historian Says No One is Born Gay or Straight – Society Does That
Posted on April 8, 2014 in Sexuality by Nathan Cherry
There is no such thing as a “gay gene” and no one is “born that way.”
Oh, by the way, no one is born heterosexual either.
In fact, being heterosexual or homosexual is nothing but a social construct developed in the 19th century in response to the pathologization of homosexual experiences by doctors.
That is the essence of a recent article by David Benkof at The Daily Caller in which he explains that LGBT historians are fighting the idea that anyone is born gay. Benkof’s purpose for the article is difficult to determine as he at times seems to call into question the idea that homosexuals don’t choose their sexuality due to a “gay gene.” But then he immediately asserts that sexuality in general is in part biological and mainly a social construct developed only in the last 150 years.
The following paragraph will give an idea of how difficult to follow this article is:
“Virtually no serious person disputes that in our society, people generally experience their gay or straight orientations as unchosen and unchangeable. But the LGBT community goes further, portraying itself as a naturally arising subset of every human population, with homosexuality being etched into some people’s DNA.” Continue reading…
Shock Report: Bodies of Babies Used As Fuel to Heat Hospitals
Posted on April 7, 2014 in Life by Nathan Cherry
Image Credit: The Telegraph UK
A disturbing report from the United Kingdom is causing an uproar all the way across the pond here in the United States. An investigation has led to the conclusion that thousands of unborn and miscarried babies were used as fuel in incinerators to heat hospitals. LifeNews.com reports:
“One of the country’s leading hospitals, Addenbrooke’s in Cambridge, incinerated 797 babies below 13 weeks gestation at their own ‘waste to energy’ plant. The mothers were told the remains had been ‘cremated.’ Another ‘waste to energy’ facility at Ipswich Hospital, operated by a private contractor, incinerated 1,101 foetal remains between 2011 and 2013. They were brought in from another hospital before being burned, generating energy for the hospital site.”
The shock and disgust has come mostly from pro-life camps as the pro-abortion crowd seems strangely silent. Then again, if you approve of ripping unborn babies apart limb from limb then what is the big deal about using their body parts to heat a hospital?
How did we get to the place as a society where we sit apathetically while human bodies are used to heat hospitals?
Rachael Wong, writing at LifeSiteNews.com commented: Continue reading…
Is There a Connection Between Planned Parenthood and the Girl Scouts?
Posted on April 5, 2014 in Life by Nathan Cherry
That question has been asked a lot more in recent years and evidence surfaces of what appears to be a connection between the nation’s largest abortion merchant and the respected girls organization.
In this video clip LifeNews.com founder Steven Ertelt discusses the question of whether there really is a link between Planned Parenthood and the Girl Scouts. Ertelt talks about everything from former Girl Scouts CEO Cathy Cloninger’s statement that the Girl Scouts works with Planned Parenthood to the fact that the two groups hosting events together. Ertelt also talks about the women the Girl Scouts choose to honor, including Wendy Davis, Gloria Steinem, and Kathleen Sebelius.
If you are unsure of whether these two groups are in any way linked, this video should clear the question up. If the video doesn’t appear automatically, please refresh your browser.