by | Oct 23, 2023 | Uncategorized
Republican candidates make competing arguments to potential voters.
Ministers detained by police. A secret service that searches sanctuaries, questions clergy with polygraphs, and puts church leaders under house arrest. A president who threatens to ban any religious organizations with ties to a neighboring country.
For American evangelicals concerned about international religious freedom, these reports would be enough to raise alarms about any country. But they’re even more alarming when they’re coming from a nation their government is backing in a war.
These were likely the kind of stories former Fox News commentator Tucker Carlson had in mind in July when he asked former vice president Mike Pence whether Christian voters could, in good conscience, continue to back US support for Ukraine and Volodymyr Zelensky in the war with Russia.
“The Zelensky government has raided convents, arrested priests—has effectively banned a Christian denomination,” Carlson claimed, referring to the Ukrainian branch of the Russian Orthodox Church.
The exchange, at a gathering of conservative Christians in Iowa, quickly got testy. And Carlson was roundly criticized by supporters of Ukraine. The Orthodox Public Affairs Committee, a US-based group, accused Carlson of spouting “Russian propaganda.”
But a growing number of American evangelical voters appear to be asking the same questions Carlson is asking. Many are expressing growing doubts about US support for the war.
American evangelicals backed Ukraine pretty vigorously at the outset. In fact, when Russia invaded Ukraine last February, they were more likely than other Americans to support Ukraine. According to an Economist/YouGov poll in March 2022, 77 percent of American evangelicals said they were sympathetic to Ukraine, …
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by | Oct 23, 2023 | Uncategorized
And other news briefs from Christians around the world.
A Bible containing a rare record of Christian opposition to slavery is going on display for the first time in the South Carolina State Museum in Columbia. The Bible once belonged to William Turpin, who with his business partner Thomas Wadsworth bought human beings in the late 1700s. The men then became convinced slavery was immoral and freed them. Turpin recorded the names of 31 people freed from their enslavement in his Bible.
CMA sees small split over women in ministry
At least eight congregations have left the Christian and Missionary Alliance (CMA) over women in ministry. In June, after several years of discussion, the denomination decided that women may be ordained and carry the title “pastor” at the discretion of local churches, while eldership, which includes the lead pastor, will remain exclusive to men. According to the CMA, the new position recognizes that people who are equally committed to the authority of Scripture interpret key passages about women in church roles differently. But some of those leaving say it is “a significant step toward egalitarianism.” The departing churches have not indicated whether they will form a new denomination.
Canada: Court won’t hear churches’ COVID-19 case
The Supreme Court of Canada declined to hear an argument by a group of British Columbia churches that COVID-19 restrictions violated their constitutional rights. A lower court ruled the pandemic restrictions may have violated Charter rights but were nonetheless permissible as the government had to balance those protections with the legal mandate of the provincial health department. The lower court also noted the restrictions were time-limited, setting-specific, and following the best available …
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by | Oct 23, 2023 | Uncategorized
This sounds counterintuitive. But there are biblical and cultural reasons for believing it.
We talk about enemies less than we used to.
It may not feel that way. The amount of infighting, mudslinging, name-calling, and downright nastiness in public discourse today, including within the church, is both tragic and self-defeating. Slander and snark have been normalized in many circles. So thinking and talking about enemies in these fractious and divided times might sound like the last thing we need.
Yet the opposite is true for two reasons. The first is biblical: The Scriptures talk about enemies with robust clarity and remarkable frequency, including in ways we are explicitly urged to imitate. The second reason is cultural: Confusion about who exactly God’s enemies are, and how the church should respond to them, makes Christians more likely to attack one another, not less.
Take the biblical argument first. There are around 400 references to an “enemy” or “enemies” in Scripture. (By way of comparison, that’s about twice as often as the words gracious and grace appear.) Admittedly, plenty of these examples relate to political or military opponents of Israel that no longer exist. But some refer to those who love the world, hate the Cross, and hate the church (James 4:4; Phil. 3:18; Rev. 11:5, 12).
Many references concern the work of the Messiah himself, who will “possess the gate of his enemies” (Gen. 22:17, ESV), and who—in the biblical text that’s quoted most frequently by Jesus and in the whole New Testament—will sit at God’s right hand until his enemies are made into a “footstool” (Ps. 110:1). Apparently, crushing the head of his enemies is a central feature of what Christ came to do. It is the subject of the …
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by | Oct 23, 2023 | Uncategorized
We’ll never see the glory of God if we look only to our own brand.
Greek mythology may not be a guide to the Christian life, but I appreciate the clever commentary the ancient stories offer. I was recently reminded of Narcissus, the young man who neglected all other loves and physical needs so he could stare endlessly at his own reflection. In the most common version of the story, Narcissus eventually dies while sitting by the reflection pool—the tragic and ironic conclusion to his selfish love.
The old, dark comedy still applies—maybe especially applies—to our modern ego and pride. If we want to cultivate humility these days, we have more than just pools and mirrors to contend with.
We are God’s image bearers. Yet aided by our phones and social media, many of us spend more time with our reflections than even Narcissus did, certainly more than people have at any other time in civilization. The overwhelming majority of American adults now own smartphones. And with billions of mobile devices in circulation around the world, the situation is the same in many other countries. We are a selfie society, encouraged to view and post about ourselves often, in hopes of attracting more likes and boosting our “brand.”
We forget Narcissus’ peril. But we also forget the grace that is spoken through his story: After Narcissus dies, he is turned into a flower.
Late last summer, I played a concert at a rustic flower farm in Washington State, when the dahlias were in full bloom. Rows and rows of spectacular pompoms swayed like velvet fireworks bursting from their sturdy green stems. With guitar, piano, and drums, we sang at sunset under a white canopy tent, the community and the musicians coming together to lift our voices over the flowers. We shared a palpable awareness …
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by | Oct 23, 2023 | Uncategorized
When we picture ourselves as heroes, we often forget our humanity.
It seems to me that many of us read the parable of the Good Samaritan with an unstated understanding that its basic message is “For crying out loud, just don’t be a jerk.”
The Sunday school storyboard unfolds in our mind’s eye. A poor, innocent guy has been brutally beaten, and any reasonably moral person would be horrified. The priest and the Levite see him and pass by on the other side of the road. We are astonished by their callous behavior. Surely this is not what any decent human being would do! How can they bear to leave the poor man lying on the side of the road? We unimaginatively insert ourselves into the story in the role of the Good Samaritan, certain that if this event were ever to present itself in our daily lives, we would obviously do the right thing.
In my own experience, living this out went quite differently.
I am driving back to my home in the rural interior of the East African country of Burundi, where I live and work as a missionary physician. The past few days have been a marathon of high-stress cross-cultural and multilingual meetings regarding an international accreditation for our medical school. Preparing for my three-hour trip home, I am utterly spent. I want nothing more than to see my family and share the takeout food that is currently sitting on my passenger seat’s floorboard.
My car winds up the narrow mountain roads lined with banana and palm nut trees. This dangerous journey, with its steep drop-offs and limited visibility, was a terror for the first few years that I lived here, but now it is more or less commonplace. As I drive, I pray that the hours of the trip lighten a bit of the load that I’m feeling.
As the road turns yet again, I see a commotion in front …
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