As iron sharpens iron,
one person sharpens another. (Proverbs 27:17)
“Unlike most mainline denominations, United Methodism has never officially liberalized its teachings on sexuality and instead strengthened them at its last governing General Conference in 2019….So why would American United Methodist traditionalists now leave for the newly created Global Methodist Church?” - TGC
Related: Wesleyan Covenant Association calls on conservative churches to withhold dues from United Methodist Church - RNS
“the conflict isn’t over. The church statement said, ‘We maintain and firmly believe that we committed no wrong,’ and noted that the woman couldn’t positively identify that it was the church employee who abused her.” - CToday
“Amnesty International, the global human rights watchdog with a self-described mandate to take injustice personally, published a deeply flawed report on Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine.” - Providence
“I would love to see Christians pontificating much less about complex matters they don’t understand….But even if we did all that (and we should), we would not be free from politics. There is no category called ‘politics’ that can be safely quarantined from the category we call ‘religion.’” - Kevin DeYoung
“The book with Crossway is a concise commentary on Romans. It emphasizes tracing Paul’s argument, and I designed it for Bible study—alone or as a group….The book with Logos is an annotated phrase diagram of Romans.” - Andy Naselli
“An increase in the number of single adults, and particularly single adults over the age of 30, brings with it a need for increased intentionality toward single adults in churches. A study from Lifeway Research asked Protestant pastors how their churches specifically minister to single adults ages 30 and older.” - Lifeway
Reprinted with permission from As I See It, which is available free by writing to the editor at dkutilek@juno.com.
Suicide is a big issue, both theologically and emotionally.
In our county, suicides are breaking records, but, fortunately, have not affected our church or family at this time. But how about you? Comments welcome, including what churches can do better. Some of this will be hard for some of you, so do not feel like you must comment. On the other hand, sharing may help deal with grief.
Poll Results
Has suicide affected you or your church?
“You are an embodied soul. Your body responds to the content of your thoughts, and your thoughts are influenced by the state of your body. Becoming more aware of the interactions between your thoughts and body can help you form a plan.” - TGC
“In both parties, majorities of those who have experienced one of the forms of extreme weather asked about in the survey say climate change contributed to the event. But Democrats are more likely than Republicans to say climate change contributed a lot.” - Pew
“Rather than bow to the pressure… medical school dean Marschall Runge defended the choice of Collier and the school’s commitment to freedom of expression. “Our values speak about honoring the critical importance of diversity of personal thought and ideas,” - Breakpoint
“…every worldview under the Sun must deal with the problem of pain and suffering….. having God in the equation is humanity’s last best hope of making sense of this issue.” - Reasons
“…we can’t rewind the clock. We can only decide how to go forward. And so the DOJ should go forward with the same rule it applied to Hillary Clinton, including the same level of deference.” - David French
“The statement, signed by leaders of the SBC Executive Committee and other of the denomination’s national entities, didn’t say specifically what federal investigators are looking into, but they referenced an internal investigation into the Executive Committee’s handling of sexual abuse allegations.” - C.Index
Related:
“Lost people know when we’re treating them as “projects” over against just loving them as people created in God’s image.” - Chuck Lawless
“These five convictions Carter contends are derived from the biblical data and form the metaphysical convictions that accompany his twenty-five theses of what he means by trinitarian classical theism—which he uses interchangeably with Christian Platonism.” - London Lyceum
“The bipartisan ‘Kids Online Safety Act,’ which is currently before Congress, is an effort to address these realities by providing parents and kids with safeguards and tools to protect them, uncovering the ‘black box algorithms’ that can feed dangerous content, and creating a duty for social media platforms to prevent and mitigate harms” - IFS
“For a man who maintained a prolific remote ministry through his letters, Paul repeatedly sounds discontent with the remote, impersonal medium.” - 9 Marks
From Detroit Baptist Seminary Journal (DBSJ), Volume 20: 2015. Used with permission.
Scripture provides revelation about the Golden Calf Incident (GCI) in at least 6 chapters in Scripture (Exod. 32; Deut. 9; Neh. 9; Ps. 106; Acts 7; 1 Cor. 10). In my previous threads about this incident, I did not discuss the verses in Acts 7 that are about the GCI:
Acts 7:39 To whom [Moses: our fathers would not obey, but thrust him from them, and in their hearts turned back again into Egypt,
40 Saying unto Aaron, Make us gods to go before us: for as for this Moses, which brought us out of the land of Egypt, we wot not what is become of him.
“According to new research, the link between depression and ‘chemical imbalances’ in the brain could be less settled than previously thought” - Breakpoint
“There have been, of course, a great many attempts by Reformed Baptists to close the gap with various forms of hermeneutical intrigue, starting in the 1680s and persisting today in 1689 Federalism, New Covenant Theology, and Progressive Covenantalism.” - Mark Snoeberger
“The National Constitution Center in Philadelphia said Thursday that Breyer and Gorsuch, who has served since 2019, will be spokesmen for civics education and civility in politics.” - C.Index
“As late as 1970, only about 5% of Americans chose to be cremated. In 2020, more than 56% Americans opted for it.” - RNS
“The day before the World Health Organization declared COVID-19 a pandemic, a small book by Jonathan Leeman and Andy Naselli was released: How Can I Love Church Members with Different Politics? Nobody knew at the time how much we’d need it.” - TGC
Read the series.
Online ministry efforts have doubtless expanded exponentially since the onslaught of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. It expedited my own plans for engaging in online ministry—and I am sure it did the same for many others.
I shared quite a few of my own thoughts on this theme in parts two and three of this series. I have also described at length how the shutdowns provided the time and opportunity—and compelled me by necessity—to launch the type of online outreach that I had envisioned from the beginning of my service with The Friends of Israel Gospel Ministry.
“…the team made an extraordinary discovery: A long-buried computer file contained an unpublished devotional by Elliot called Heart of God: 31 Days to Discover God’s Love for You. The book is scheduled for release this September by DaySpring.” - CToday
“An atheist American can look at the shared humanity of the unborn child and believe it is just and wise to extend legal protections to recognize its immense worth and value. My friend and former National Review colleague Charles C.W. Cooke is an atheist, and he wrote powerfully last year to explain why he’s pro-life.” - David French
“The EPPC Family Almanac offers 83 little glimpses into what American families look like, and the circumstances they face. As more and more red-blooded populists and well-credentialed eggheads start developing ideas for family policy, these facts and figures are ready to help make sure the discussion is grounded in reality.” - IFS
