Month: December 2015
These 5 Tips for Christian Parents Will Help Teach Our Faith to Our Children
Posted on December 9, 2015 in Family, Theology by Nathan Cherry
Once upon a time people thought it was the church’s job to instill faith into their children. Now only the naïve and mistaken parent adheres to that misguided idea. The faith of my children is primarily my responsibility; the church is there to supplement what I am doing to grow my children in the “nurture and admonition” of the Lord. Knowing that I have such a great responsibility means placing a priority on their spiritual development. Before anything else, musical development, athletic development, or even vocational development, comes their spiritual development.
I’m not arrogant enough to think I can do it alone. I constantly search for resources to aid in my teaching and training. To that end I recently read an article at Monergism that stood out. It was a very simple reminder to Christian parents about what it takes to raise godly kids. One striking feature of the article is that it nowhere mentions the church. Now, this doesn’t mean the author is suggesting the church holds no importance in our children’s faith formation. To the contrary this article is merely giving some practical tips to parents with a deep burden to grow faith in their kids.
Another feature of the article is that every tip given was directly aimed at parents. This reiterates that the responsibility for my kids’ faith development is primarily my responsibility. At least for a while I must lead in instilling those seeds of faith that I want to see grow. It is a very dangerous thing to try and unload this responsibility on someone else; or even the church. Not only are we risking that those seeds won’t be planted at all; we are risking that the wrong seeds will be planted or that they won’t be properly watered and will die.
Take a look at some of the useful advice from the article that can help us instill a life-long faith in our children:
Theologian James White Explains How Christians Should Think About Islam and Muslims
Posted on December 8, 2015 in Family, Religious Freedom by Nathan Cherry
There is no doubt that Muslims, Islam, and ISIS are front and center in the news. All of us will – if we haven’t already – have a conversation about whether these people are one and the same or if they can be separated. The talking points are reaching a fever pitch as political candidates are calling for deportations and registries here in the US for Muslims that want to be in our country. With all the noise it can be hard for Christians to know what the proper, biblical attitude toward Muslims should be. I confess that I have struggled with knowing exactly how the situation should be handled. (I’m thankful I’m not in a position where my opinion matters.)
I found this short video featuring world-renowned scholar James White helpful. In the video, posted on YouTube, White discusses some basics about Islam and a starting point for Christians that want to think through the issue. On one hand we want to extend the love of Christ and be a visual example of the Gospel to people trapped in a dark and violent religion. On the other hand we want to protect our family, our friends, and our country from people that seemingly hate us and want to inflict unending violence against us. That is not an enviable position.
Take a few moments to listen to Dr. White explain a good starting point for us as Christians as we think through this difficult and highly controversial issue. We need to have more than raw emotions and political talking points when we discuss Islam and Muslims. Our theology must carry over to this issue. Dr. White’s thought will help with that. I hope you find this as helpful as I did. (If the video doesn’t appear automatically, please refresh your browser.)
Pro-Lifers – Not Muslim Terrorists – Are Responsible for San Bernardino Shootings?
Posted on December 7, 2015 in Life by Nathan Cherry
Two shootings have occurred in the last month. I know you know about them, we all know about them because the media is fixated on the shootings. They want to bring us every possible detail – even the ones we don’t want or need – in order to make sure we all know that these shootings are the fault of the pro-life movement and global warming skeptics.
Yep, you read that right. According to the media and all their political allies, such as President Obama, Planned Parenthood, members of Congress, and many Hollywood elite, these shootings were caused by pro-lifers and global warming skeptics.
Now, if that seems odd and not at all sensible to you, you are probably exercising common sense and critical thinking skills. These skills are not as common as you think in our current culture where political correctness and groupthink rule the day. So if you’re paying attention to actual facts about these cases and have concluded that the shooters were neither pro-life nor did they have anything to do with the global warming issue, you’re doing just fine.
The first shooting, taking place at a Planned Parenthood facility in Colorado Springs, CO. was the work of a man that has been identified as a registered Independent voter, a woman, and a transgender. To date no one can show any ties to the pro-life movement. And yet, simply because he chose a Planned Parenthood clinic to commit a violent crime every pro-lifer has been blamed. In fact, even pro-life views have been called out by the liberal media for being “violent.” Can someone please help me understand how asking for all life – from conception to natural death – to be respected is “violent”?
Did You Know the Planned Parenthood Shooter was a Pro-Life, Christian, Conservative, Republican?
Posted on December 1, 2015 in Life by Nathan Cherry
Last week a man committed a terrible act of violence at a Planned Parenthood clinic in Colorado Springs, CO. Depending on what article you read about this incident the picture you will get of the gunman, Robert Dear, will be very different. In fact, as more details emerge about this man and his crime(s), the entire story becomes very troubling.
Abortion activists are painting Mr. Dear as a pro-life activist and calling his crime an act of “domestic terrorism.” They are using the tragic events as an opportunity to paint pro-life activists as extremists that condone violence (a twisted sort of irony).
Gun control advocates are using the incident as an opportunity to call for stricter gun laws. They see Mr. Dear as the typical American gun owner and want to make it more difficult to own a gun.
Some even decided to be very specific with their blame by saying the shooting was the fault of “Christian, white, conservative, Republicans.” These accusations were made while the shooting was still going on and before the suspect was in custody? Either the media coverage was extremely biased and those reporters should be ashamed of themselves; or someone is trying to create an artificial picture of specific groups for a political agenda.