“4 in 5 U.S. Protestant pastors say their church has some type of security measure in place, according to a study from Lifeway Research. Yet more than 1 in 6 (17%) say they don’t use any of the seven potential measures included in the study.” - C.Index

U.S. District Judge Thomas Parker: “The AEA’s regulation of ‘adult-oriented performances that are harmful to minors under § 39-17-901’ does target protected speech, despite Defendant claims to the contrary” - BPNews

“It can be messy and confusing when outsiders poke around and try to tell a story about the church. This is especially true when the focus is on some group or ‘scandal’ most of us are already embarrassed about but don’t think fairly represents us or our faith.” - TGC

Warren: “Your own family members often hold opposing opinions, but you don’t disown them for that…You still love them in spite of disagreement.” - RNS

“The Statewide Virtual Charter School Board voted 3-2 to approve the application by the Catholic Archdiocese of Oklahoma to establish the St. Isidore of Seville Virtual Charter School.” - AP

“Trinity Community Church… has a confessed child sex abuser serving with their worship team….Trinity is also affiliated with the SBC and the Georgia Baptist Convention” - SBC Voices

“For starters, don’t take love for granted. That’s easy to do when fear dominates us. Therefore, remind your members that loving God and loving our neighbor should animate everything we say and do this month.” - 9 Marks

There are a lot of sins in the Bible. We don’t feel the same way about all of them, though, do we? Some sins trigger strong righteous indignation or an intense “ick” response. Others we barely notice.

We’re not entirely wrong to feel that way. Though there are not really any small sins, some are bigger than others. (See Bob Gonzales’ excellent study on that topic: The Greater Sin: Are There Degrees of Sin?).

But this range of reactions to different sins should prompt us to ask some questions.

“Still, like anything, this evangelical movement of pop-culture engagement includes some blind spots—and it may be aging poorly in today’s rapidly changing world.” - TGC

Just read a review of Nikki Haley’s weekend townhall with CNN. She said some encouraging things.

At the moment, these are the candidates I’d like to see get the GOP nomination, in order of preference:

A certain former President is intentionally omitted from any position on my list.

For the poll question below, let’s assume all the above and other public figures have an equal chance of winning the nomination. So the question is not who is likely to win it, but who would you prefer to see win it.

“About a quarter of U.S. adults regularly watch religious services online; 21% use apps or websites to help with reading scripture” - Pew

“Gov. Greg Abbott of Texas signed a bill into law Friday that bans sex-change surgeries and hormonal interventions aimed at transitioning minors with gender dysphoria, as the Lone Star State joins more than a dozen others” - CPost

“The problem of Hillsong arises with the desire to be an extraordinary church led by extraordinary communicators and extraordinary musicians creating an extraordinary experience. When it comes to church, we don’t need to be entertained. We don’t need to be wowed.” - RNS

Don’t Pretend the Ugandan Homosexuality Law Is Christian - Russell Moore

Read the series.

In the last article, we discussed the most basic principle to rightly understand the “church v. state” conundrum. That principle was this—there are two kingdoms, Babylon and Jerusalem. Babylon will lose. Now we’ll build on this foundation and introduce the next building block:

Principle no. 2: God’s kingdom is distinct from every nation state.

https://practicallyknowntheology.com/

“These findings contradict those reported in The Wall Street Journal …. couples least likely to divorce were those where the husband had a much larger income than his wife, which includes couples where the wife does not work outside the home.” - IFS

“Did Jesus’ family think He was crazy? Probably. But not quite in the way we might make this accusation today. They thought He was placing Himself outside the bounds of normal society.” - C.Leaders

“There are some, many of them Christians, striving to rethink psychology and counsel others by looking outward as well as inward, to know themselves by first knowing what is true and good.” - Breakpoint

“The lawsuit alleges that Ramsey, Timeshare Exit Team and Happy Hour Media Group, a marketing firm with ties to Brandon Reed, one of the founders of Timeshare Exit Team, violated the Washington Consumer Protection Act by defrauding customers” - RNS

“There are Christians who live in mortal fear that they might at some point commit that sin that would cause them to lose their salvation and to lose the hope of heaven.” - RC Sproul

“We can do away with slavery, segregation, and red-lining, but prejudice (not just based on skin color but because of class, wealth, religion, how tall or short people are, or how obese or skinny–all kinds of things) is going to be with us until the Lord returns.” - Juicy Ecumenism

Read the series.

Let’s just cut to the chase: Since dispensationalism grew out of a renewed commitment to the rigorous study of the Bible, could it be that dispensationalism’s decline is related to the notable neglect of Scripture?

“The church’s biggest problem is the lack of assurance in pursuing God’s glory. Slow giving trends are a symptom of a greater problem. The decline in average worship attendance is a symptom of a greater problem. Poor leadership is a symptom of a greater problem.” - Sam Rainer

“The internal peace we experience now has been directly connected to the following three shifts in our parenting: • train up, not tell up • should go, not shouldn’t go • old, not young” - Desiring God

“Door-to-door evangelism tends to get a bad rap… in our experience, the people in our community have responded positively. At about half of the homes we visit, someone answers the door and a positive conversation ensues.” - 9 Marks

Acton’s Religion & Liberty reviews Bioethics for Nurses: A Christian Moral Vision and Bioethics: A Primer for Christians (4th ed.) - R&L

“there are hopeful signs that so much adversity has made Generation Z resilient. Consider the spontaneous outpouring of prayer, fasting, and worship among Christian college students, first witnessed at Asbury College in Kentucky and then spread around the nation.” - World

“In the current ‘post-liberal’ moment, there’s a new Christian authoritarian chic. Recent examples include a conservative Christian finding virtue with East German communism, and another extolling a ‘Protestant’ Francisco Franco for America.” - Providence

I recently posted to an internet discussion group the claim that none of the KJV’s contemporaries or those for many generations afterward had the temerity to affirm that the KJV was a perfect, flawless, unimprovable English Bible version as is claimed by some today. To the contrary, from the beginning, it was recognized as being flawed in numerous details, and certainly was susceptible to correction and improvement to bring it into closer conformity to the Bible text in the original Hebrew and Greek.