Tag: Denny Burke
Steps Every Church Can Take to Defend Biblical Teaching on Marriage
Posted on May 13, 2015 in Marriage, Religious Freedom by Nathan Cherry
As I discussed yesterday, the Supreme Court is preparing to rule on the issue of marriage. More specifically, whether or not it should be legal in all 50 states for homosexuals to marry. This decision will have a major impact on every person regardless of which way the court rules.
Several years ago I was involved with educating churches and pastors on what steps they could take to protect their churches from lawsuits due to changing cultural norms. While many churches were receptive to such instruction, some churches believed it unnecessary. Few churches today seeking to protect their religious freedom think being educated is unnecessary.
Groups like The Gospel Coalition have been more cautious in recommending to churches steps that can be taken to protect their pastors, facilities, and religious freedom. So when I see recommendations from The Gospel Coalition, in conjunction with Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF), I take notice.
In a blog post not long ago, The Gospel Coalition recommended five ways churches can protect their religious convictions and freedom amidst a changing culture. These are five steps groups like ADF and the one I worked with were encouraging years ago; they are more critical today than ever.
The five steps are:
How Does “Gay Marriage” Hurt Straight Marriage? A Simple Answer
Posted on August 15, 2014 in Marriage by Nathan Cherry
I’ve spent some time lately discussing whether or not homosexual relationships are the same as heterosexual ones. The very fact that this needs to be discussed at length, that others are pondering this thought, indicates a fundamental lack of understanding of what marriage and the man-woman relationship is truly all about.
I don’t want to be juvenile or crude here, but the obvious answer to the question “are homosexual relationships exactly like heterosexual relationships?” is, no.
By not wanting to be juvenile or crude I mean that I want to point out the obvious…er…um…plumbing problem, without going into detail. Phrases like “you can’t put a square peg into a round hole” come to mind and I think you get the idea. But to begin and end the discussion with the sexual aspect is the problem.
Part of the success of the LGBT movement has to do with their ability to separate marriage and sex. For years sex has been downplayed in our society as just another recreational activity. Everything from television to movies made sex nothing more than a decision for consenting adults: have sex on the third date or the fourth? Now they don’t even wait for the third date, entire services and websites are devoted to helping people hook up for “casual sex.” And we’ve all seen social media posts of people in bed with someone they don’t remember, or recognize after a one night stand. There’s no shame. There’s also no morality.
And now that sex and marriage have been successfully separated the uniqueness of the male-female relationship and the need for traditional marriage is also in question. After all, if sex is just another recreational hobby, and who you have sex with is just a matter of personal preference, why does traditional marriage need defended and preserved?
RIP American Free Speech. Next Up Religious Freedom
Posted on May 7, 2014 in Religious Freedom by Nathan Cherry
Let’s stop pretending that America believes in free speech. I know we all want to believe we still believe in it, we want to scream desperately from the roof tops that America still practices and believes in free speech. The truth is that we don’t.
If America believed in free speech former Mozilla CEO Brendan Eich would still have a job. He shared his opinion on the topic of marriage via a monetary donation, a form of speech, and was ousted. Eich “let his voice be heard” by contributing to a cause he believed in and Mozilla, along with the most intolerant and hateful gay activists demanded that he be fired.
If America believe in free speech Donald Sterling, the owner of the Los Angeles Clippers, would not have been banned from the NBA and fined $2.5 million for making racists remarks. Sterling simply shared his own personal views and as a result a media firestorm and public outcry has been overwhelming against him. Some have even demanded the NBA force him to sell the Clippers. (How exactly do you ban an owner of a team? How do you force someone to sell something they own?)
Before anyone gets the impression I’m defending racist comments let me be clear: racism is an immoral sinful practice. Oh, you didn’t know it was a moral problem or sinful? Rejecting a person created in the image of God is certainly a moral issue. Open discrimination against such a person is nothing short of sinful. (By the way, why was the NAACP set to give Sterling an award, again, if he had a record of racism?)