Tag: doctrine
What Two “Pastors” Said About Abortion is Appalling
Posted on October 6, 2014 in Uncategorized by Nathan Cherry
I’ve heard a lot of arguments for abortion that have bothered me. Many of them are selfish and take no account for the human life being destroyed. And some of those arguments have come from Christians or others seeking to gain the support of the religious community. When I hear attempts to justify abortion by distorting Scripture I cringe.
But what two “pastors” said in an attempt to justify abortion, encourage religious people to support it, and demand Christians pay for it is simply beyond the pale.
An article at LifeNews carries the comments from the Washington Post by pro-abortion Reverends, Dr. Alethea Smith-Withers and Harry Knox in their attempt to encourage Christians to support and subsidize abortion. They write:
New Group Wants to Start a Conversation About Marriage Redefinition With Christians. But…
Posted on September 23, 2014 in Marriage by Nathan Cherry
There’s a new group seeking to change evangelicals’ minds about the definition of marriage. It’s not a LGBT activist group or even a “liberal” same-sex “marriage” group. It’s a…evangelical group?
The group calling itself “Evangelicals for Marriage Equality” wants to start a “new evangelical conversation about civil marriage equality,” according to a recent ad by the group.
I’m not sure what is wrong with the old conversation, but, based on what I’ve seen so far from the group, the new conversation isn’t worth having.
The group’s spokesman said that the intent of EME is to show that Christians can be faithful to Scripture while supporting civil marriage equality.
A Very Clear Warning to Churches Regarding Youth Ministry (Kids Ministry Too)
Posted on August 20, 2014 in Family, Theology by Nathan Cherry
The following article from the Christian Post should serve as a very sobering warning to every church regarding youth ministry. I would also suggest that it applies to kids ministry as well. Churches that are quick to entertain and lack the ability to challenge their kids and students could be setting them up to reject faith entirely during their college years.
As parents it should be our most sincere desire to be in a church that will intentionally challenge our kids and students in their faith. We should be looking for leaders that are not just convicted in their beliefs, but know the Bible and how to communicate it. At the end of the day the fun and games must take a back seat to imparting solid doctrine and teaching biblical values to the impressionable people in our care.
I encourage you to take a few moments and read this article if you are a parent or church leader. Let us be reminded of the eternal nature of our charge to share our faith and disciple our kids and students.
Learning From Young Atheists: What Turned Them Off Christianity
It’s something most Christian parents worry about: You send your kids off to college and when they come back, you find they’ve lost their faith. The prospect of this happening is why many parents nudge their kids towards Christian colleges, or at least schools with a strong Christian presence on campus.
But in many ways, the damage has been done long before our children set foot on campus. That’s the message from a recent article in the Atlantic Monthly.
PC-USA: Votes to Affirm Homosexuality
Posted on June 21, 2014 in Marriage, Theology by Derick Dickens
You do not have to go back very long when there was the theological fight for Princeton Seminary. At issue was the rise of liberalism that was taking away this once great bastion of great theologians. In the wake of this controversy, J. Gresham Machen wrote in his classic book, Christianity and Liberalism,
How the Church is Failing Millennials on the Homosexual Issue
Posted on June 9, 2014 in Sexuality by Nathan Cherry
I was just talking Sunday night with some folks in my church about how the church is failing our younger generations on the issue of homosexuality. To my surprise, they agreed with me. We all agreed that the popular church strategies of either ignoring the issue or of being soft and not fully addressing the issue is not helping; and is doing more harm than any intended good.
There is a number of ways that I believe the church is failing on this issue. As I told my friends I was discussing with after church Sunday night, the world believes Christians are in one of two camps: the Westboro Baptist camp, or the we’re-all-God’s-children camp.
In other words, people think Christians either hate all homosexuals and want to see harm come to them; a la Westboro Baptist. Or that we believe we’re all God’s children (a heretical lie) and that God made people gay.
Either of these two positions is false and problematic. But there is one particular reason why I believe the church is failing millennials on this very critical issue.
The Doctrine of God: God the Creator Makes His Creativity Known
Posted on May 30, 2014 in Theology by Nathan Cherry
First, God is the author of all creation including the creative passion given to individuals today. And second, creativity for the glory of Christ should be encouraged by Christians and the church.
Many young evangelicals feel as though the church has turned its back on creativity. At various times throughout history creativity in the arts was deemed sinful and inappropriate for believers. But if God is a creator and author of all creative gifts then creating for the glory of Christ should be celebrated.
Sadly, many Christians have abandoned creativity and left music, art, literature, and movies to lost people. There is a resurgence of Christians in Hollywood that are boldly speaking about their faith. They are encouraging young believers to pursue careers in the arts for the glory of Jesus. Faith themed movies are making waves in Hollywood and stumping critics regularly. Movies like: Facing the Giants, Fireproof, Soul Surfer, The Blind Side, and God’s Not Dead are bringing faith to the big screen. We should support these works and encourage those in Hollywood making these movies. The ability of art to transcend cultural and denominational lines makes it a powerful tool we as Christians should be utilizing rather than ignoring.
Why Should Anyone Believe What a Christian Says?
Posted on May 21, 2014 in Sexuality, Theology by Nathan Cherry
It’s hard to read news headlines each day. I try to stay informed by maintaining a robust news aggregator service that I check daily. This allows me to read several hundred headlines each day and keeps me as informed as any person would want to be. But I admit that it is a difficult task.
Part of the difficulty is reading headlines related to Christians.
With all that Christians face from a lost and dying world each day it only compounds our burdens when we harm ourselves and the Gospel from within. When Christians behave in such a way so as to bring shame and embarrassment upon the Gospel we preach and the name of Jesus we are doing no one any favors. Most of all, we are helping to push others further away from Christ rather than being a tool to draw them to the Savior.
Here’s a headline I wish didn’t exist: “Peeping Pastor Pleads Guilty to Very Creepy Crime.” The article reports:
Can Evangelicalism Win America?
Posted on April 30, 2014 in Theology by Derick Dickens
Original article posted here.
When John Ockenga* noted in 1947 that fundamentalism was found wanting because, “fragmentation, segregation, separation, criticism, sensoriousness, suspicion, solecism is the order of the day for fundamentalism” he was spot-on.
However, the solution that Ockenga supplied, called evangelicalism, is also found wanting because through unity they have destroyed distinctions of the church–making her ineffective.
Evangelicalism was, after all, a response against fundamentalism’s hard line stances on non-essential doctrine, moralism and harsh condemnations. In some regards, Evangelicalism was a welcomed response that was both conservative and respectful.
What came about, though, was a watering down of theology to the lowest common denominator. In some ways, they avoided fragmentation, segregation, separation, criticism, sensoriousness, suspicion and solecism, but they did not avoid other vital issues which caused them to be susceptible to error.
Biblical Illiteracy: It’s Not Just Younger Generations That Are “Embarrassingly Ignorant” of Their Faith
Posted on April 18, 2014 in Theology by Nathan Cherry
In recent years I’ve often said that one of the most challenging dynamics for churches to overcome is biblical illiteracy. Presently it seems to me that there is an abundance of biblical illiteracy in the church among both lay-people and leaders alike. That being the case it is easy to see how the church has lost much of its power, influence, and cultural relevance.
The church has experienced loss in a broad range of areas – numbers, giving, baptisms – over the last decade and a half as it simultaneously faces unprecedented persecution from government. Prominent pastors have publicly endorsed and embraced heretical doctrines (think Rob Bell’s “no hell” doctrine), while others have publicly endorsed sin (such as homosexuality). Constant in-fighting over non-essentials (alcohol, tribulation, carpet color) has also served to disillusion younger generations that see a lack of authenticity.
For me, personally, nothing is as pressing and critical as the issue of biblical literacy. This is far more than the ability to read the Bible and understand it; this is about being able to rightly govern one’s life through the filter of grace, redemption, and sanctification. What’s missing currently is a biblical worldview that shapes and informs every aspect of life to the place that sanctification becomes evident.
Will the Religious Super-Majority Be Forced to Comply?
Posted on February 21, 2014 in Religious Freedom by Nathan Cherry
A number of times now President Obama has stated that America is “no longer a Christian nation.” I don’t believe that every person in America is a repentant follower of Jesus, and I am certain the president does not believe that either. What I believe the president was trying to accomplish with his remarks is to distance modern America from our religious founding and heritage. In President Obama’s ongoing attempts to replace “freedom of religion” with “freedom to worship” he would like nothing more than to imbed the idea that America is not founded and based on biblical principles.
In a solid refutation of the president’s claim, a recent Gallup poll released at the end of December in 2013 shows that a super-majority of Americans, 75%, identify with the Christian faith. Dr. Frank Newport, Galup’s Editor-in-Chief says: