“In the wake of various sexual abuse scandals, many churches are weighing the importance of background checks in their hiring processes and working to find the way to best protect children within the church.” - The Baptist Paper

“Ninety years ago, a document was drawn up by faithful Protestant Christians to proclaim their stand against the Nazi state’s attempt to coopt the church and pervert its teachings. It remains both a herald and a witness for the faithful today.” - Acton

I have always loved Memorial Day. In fact, I celebrate it every Saturday night.

My ritual for the end of the week—normally as I am preparing to speak the next day on Sunday morning—involves watching Combat!, “TV’s longest-running World War II drama.”¹ When I am at home—or even in a hotel, if I can find it—I watch another adventure featuring the boys from the Company K, Second Platoon right before going to bed.

“Numerous media figures parroted false claims about the FBI’s 2022 search of Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago.” - The Dispatch

“Without Timothaine missions, many churches would fail to prosper and may even falter. …. If Pauline missions doesn’t exist, then the ends of the earth will never be reached….Both Timothaine and Pauline missions, therefore, are necessary.” - 9 Marks

“Some researchers⁴ have made the case that marriage doesn’t matter much, while others have argued that marriage does matter. This raises the question—who is right? How much difference does marriage make in determining children’s later-in life success?” - IFS

“For the first time, a majority of people in Scotland say they are not religious….In the 2022 census, 51.1% of respondents said they had ‘no religion,’ up from 36.7% in 2011.” - BBC

“Christian preaching is always and only biblical preaching. The sermon’s content, shape, style, tone, and impact are derived from the biblical text. Disciples know that the power of God’s word to achieve its purposes is not in doubt (Heb 4:12).” - Common Good

A few years back, in an editorial for the Kokomo Tribune, in a series about “social connectedness,” I mentioned what I call the “anonymous lifestyle.” Now I would like to use that concept as a jumping board for another issue: the “control obsession.”

People often gravitate to an anonymous lifestyle, one in which they can melt into the crowd, one in which the worker bees work, the Queen sits on the eggs, and everything is regimented and orderly. Behind this quest for specialty, organization, and planning is the fear of revealing too much about our humanity, a discomfort with being an imperfect, sinful and sometimes incompetent human. Concealing ourselves means we focus only on our function.

“A Lifeway Research study of both U.S. Protestant pastors and churchgoers found most in both groups believe it’s OK to miss church occasionally for a kid’s game or travel sporting event, but those in the pews are laxer on the issue than those behind the pulpit.” - The Baptist Paper

1. They don’t know the songs…. 2. We are singing songs not suitable for congregational singing…. 3. We are singing in keys too high for the average singer…. 4. The congregation can’t hear people around them” - Church Leaders

“Presuppositions….We agree with Jason Thacker that ‘Technology is amoral but acts as a catalyst that expands the opportunities for humanity to pursue. It is not good or evil in itself but can be designed and used for good and evil purposes.’” - Christ Over All

“A former Southern Baptist seminary professor and interim provost has been indicted on a charge of obstructing justice in a sexual misconduct case, the Department of Justice announced Tuesday (May 21).” - RNS

Also…

“For decades, the dividing line between left and right was economic in nature; conservatives wanted tax cuts, deregulation, and a smaller federal government….The divide now concerns the ‘open’ versus ‘closed’ societies where moral and ideational issues are more determinant of a person’s vote than tax cuts and spending.” - L&L

The term ἀδιάφορα (adiaphora), literally, matters that are to be viewed with indifference or that make no difference, does not appear in the Christian Scriptures and does not feature significantly in Christian Theology until the Reformation era. The term does, however, predate the Christian period by several centuries, being well-established in Greek philosophy/ethics. For instance,

“it has become crystal clear to me now: the share of non-religious Americans has stopped rising in any meaningful way.” - Ryan Burge

“If we read all of Daniel, we note how powerful, awesome, and dangerous the kingdoms of men are. It’s no wonder that, while working in DC, I felt the oxygen sucked out of my chest when I passed a standing president in the doorway. But Daniel calls us to be captivated by something even more awesome” - TGC

“More than 85% of Fortune 500 companies (429 companies total) now include religion in their commitment to diversity, more than twice the number that did in 2022, per the 2024 Corporate Religious Equity, Diversity & Inclusion (REDI) Index and Monitor.” - RNS

“Attempting to hold tensions in balance, the fearsomeness of God seems to get the short end. The Lamb, too often, undoes the Lion. With this, God is robbed of worship, and we of rejoicing.” - Desiring God

“This Spotlight Analysis focuses on women’s religious and partisan affiliations and considers how American women view the two likely presidential nominees…by race, education level, age, and religious affiliation.” - PRRI

“School Choice has opened Christian education (and private education of all kinds) to people who could not previously afford it….We need a new generation of teachers to rise to the challenge to do this very important work.” - Proclaim & Defend

“American Bible Society study finds majority don’t trust technology with spiritual matters.” - Christianity Today

“This ‘digital decay’ occurs in many different online spaces. We examined the links that appear on government and news websites, as well as in the ‘References’ section of Wikipedia pages as of spring 2023.” - Pew

“In general, the regulative principle calls for inflexibility on the elements and flexibility on the forms. Don’t mess with the elements. God has spoken. But you can exercise prudence with the forms. God has freed you to choose.” - 9 Marks

What do we make of the fact that the Bible says both that God repents and that he doesn’t?

I think the key to what’s going on here comes from the passage about God’s rejection of King Saul. I don’t know whether you noticed this in the previous post, but this event appears in both the list of statements that God doesn’t repent and the list of examples of his repenting.

In other words, the passage says both that God doesn’t repent and that he does.

“As Christians, how can we learn to disagree well, especially with other Christians? In 1970, Francis Schaeffer, one of the most astute apologists of the 20th century, published The Mark of the Christian.” - TGC

“The late evangelist is one of just four Americans who have received the nation’s three highest congressional honors.” - Christianity Today

“last year, the retailer faced heavy criticism after it announced plans to remove some of its Pride Month merchandise from store shelves following a backlash against the products” - NPR

Related: Target Keeping Gay PRIDE Under a Bushel This Season - Daily Citizen

“Critics… labeled French, best known for his vocal opposition to Donald Trump, as liberal and divisive and accused PCA leaders of trying to cause ‘rancor and controversy’ over politics. Those critics mostly disagreed with French’s political views.” - Church Leaders

“Are Christians evangelizing less, leading to a decline in church membership? Or is the decline a result of rejecting pragmatic ecclesiology and shallow views of conversion? Do the declining numbers reveal a failure to evangelize or more responsible and better definitions of success?” - 9 Marks