Melissa Harris-Perry, leaning forward, community kids, and the future

You may think this an alarmist, irrational post. I can see why you would say that but I respectfully disagree. You may have seen by now this MSNBC “Lean Forward” promo from host Melissa Harris-Perry. If not, take a look…

This is the definition of progress to some people. Since MSNBC has no problem putting their logo and “Leaning Forward” marketing schtick on it, they have at least endorsed the fact that it’s a credible opinion. Our own President campaigned on moving “Forward.” I wonder what the former community organizer has to say about this.

Let’s just state flat out that Melissa Harris-Perry could not be more wrong. Not only does common sense dictate that children belong to their parents, period, but the word of God slams the door shut. It is fathers and mothers who bring children into the world. It is fathers and mothers who are charged with bringing them up in the teaching and admonition of the Lord. It is fathers and mothers called to nurture and love them. See also Deuteronomy 6, the entire book of Proverbs, Ephesians 6, Colossians 3, and more.

I bring this up and add my two cents only for what I feel is a gloomy portent of days ahead. Consider the logic of Harris-Perry. Consider that MSNBC has practically sanctioned it. Consider the political climate of the country. Consider the theological anemia plaguing religious meetinghouses on a weekly basis. Consider how a German couple is in danger of being deported because of the way they are homeschooling when they came here because of their religious beliefs. Consider how adoptions have been thwarted in several countries because couples with Christian convictions that say homosexuality is a sin have not been allowed to adopt.

Is it really far-fetched, given the rapid decline of religious liberty in this country, to imagine a day when children could be forcibly removed from homes by the government because of the Christian convictions of the parents? This is something extremely unpleasant to think about, something that I’m sure would result in my martyrdom, but something I no longer feel is far-fetched.

I think the day is coming. Not today, not tomorrow, but some day. This is the trajectory of our culture.

May God grant to His people a boldness not yet imagined, a resolve to stand upon the solid rock of Christ. Praise the Lord that He is faithful and will preserve His remnant in eternity.

Did all sin in Adam?

I was enjoying some basketball on the March Madness app on my iPad this evening, my wife by my side doing her thing, when my relative bliss was broken upon seeing the following tweet:

I’d forgotten that tonight was the big kickoff of the second “John 3:16 Conference,” and in some respects I wish it had never been brought to my attention. Now, of course, I am not at the conference and I did not hear it for myself, but being familiar enough with the theological convictions of the one quoting and the one quoted, I have no reason to doubt its accuracy. And that being the case, I feel that at least a short response to what is asserted in the quote is not only merited, but necessary, for Titus 1:9 instructs elders to “hold fast to sound doctrine and refute those who contradict.” Continue reading →

Ministering to your pastor’s wife

Ryan Huguley of Redemption Bible Church has a great post titled “6 Ways To Serve Your Pastor’s Wife On Sunday.” These are simple things you and others in your church can do that can go along way toward blessing your pastor’s wife, which in turn will minister to your pastor, which in turn will make it a joy for him to shepherd you, fulfilling Hebrews 13:17.

Here is the list, but he expounds on each of these:

Remember that Sunday’s are different for her.
Pray for her.
Have realistic expectations of her.
Encourage her.
Go talk to her.
Don’t forget she has kids.

These are so easy to do and go so far. I encourage you to read the entire post.

What if… Michael Jordan had stayed for his senior season at Carolina?

Are you ready for a completely pointless post? Well, you got it! And just so you know I didn’t sit down and do this all at once. This happened in small bits, not that that’s an excuse.

“What if” questions are usually stupid, but I think it’s fun to wonder how things might be different sometimes. I especially like doing this in something non-serious like sports. So with all the hoopla about Michael Jordan turning 50 today, and me being a big fan of the North Carolina Tar Heels, I was reading an article about Jordan’s college days in which he said he was still bitter about the 1984 NCAA Tournament loss to Indiana and only agreed to go pro after Coach Dean Smith advised him to. But what if he’d stayed for one more season? How might UNC basketball history be different? How might the NBA?

Let’s start with the 1984 NBA Draft. With Hakeem Olajuwon and Sam Bowie gone 1 and 2, the third pick went to the Chicago Bulls, who had to choose between another Tar Heel in Sam Perkins and Auburn standout Charles Barkley. They went with the more explosive Barkley, who had a productive career and several playoff runs with the Bulls, but only got to the conference finals once, where they were dispatched by the Knicks. As for Jordan, he went on to win a gold medal for the USA in the 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles. Bob Knight coached the team and said he never got more from a player in his career than he did from Jordan. Continue reading →

The wrong emPHAsis: A word on First Baptist Church of Dallas’s statement regarding Tim Tebow’s withdrawal

We had a joke back when I was taking Biblical Greek. When we worked on pronunciation and somebody got it wrong, somebody would say, “You put the emPHAsis on the wrong sylLABle.” And for the purposes of you getting that, emphasize the caps and you’ll get it.

Well, today the big news has been the withdrawal of Tim Tebow from a speaking engagement at First Baptist Church of Dallas, TX. To read more of my thoughts regarding Tebow, I encourage you to read my post on the subject. Continue reading →

Tim Tebow has made a grievous mistake (Part commentary, part open letter)

I have been a fan of Tim Tebow since 2006. When Steve Spurrier coached the Florida Gators I couldn’t stand them, but when Chris Leak went there I began to cheer for them. Leak was an All-Everything quarterback for my alma mater, the Independence Patriots. And in Leak’s senior year he led them to the National Championship. But even though Leak was the starter, it seemed his backup was getting more buzz than he was. Tebow was a freshman that year, and many Gator fans seemed to want him in the lineup more than Leak.

Nevertheless, the more I learned about Tebow the more I liked him. You know the story. Here was an outspoken Christian, the son of missionaries, willing to write Bible verses on his eye-black and speak openly about his faith in Jesus Christ. He didn’t get into trouble off the field, played great on the field, and was committed to his team, but more important, his Savior. He went on to win the Heisman Trophy and another National Championship as the starting quarterback, and was drafted by the NFL’s Denver Broncos in the first round of the 2009 draft.

Tebow’s outspoken Christianity already gained him critics before he left Gainesville, but it seems like the moment he threw his last college pass they got a lot louder. Never mind his winning record, this guy was going to be a bust. He can’t throw the ball like an NFL quarterback, they said. He doesn’t have what it takes to win at that level, they said. And yet, underneath all of that as he was leading the Broncos to the playoffs in his second season was an undercurrent of hatred for the One he had placed his faith in. Continue reading →

A rant on the Olympics dropping wrestling

Today the International Olympic Committee announced that wrestling has been dropped from its list of “core sports,” making it very unlikely we will see it in the Olympics beginning in 2020. The announcement is just the latest in a string of decisions regarding the inclusion and exclusion of sports over the last 20 years that have the Olympics losing relevancy little by little.

More and more, the Summer Games are becoming about two sports: swimming and gymnastics. These are the sports that move the television needle and for good reason. They are exciting to watch every four years and their audiences include both men AND women. Television ratings equal advertising dollars for networks and advertising dollars for networks equal bigger and bigger rights fees paid to… the International Olympic Committee.

But the Olympic ideal is suffering when wrestling, one of the oldest sports in the Olympics, if not the original sport, is excluded. Think about those ancient Greek pictures of athletic competition you see? What are they doing? They’re wrestling. And real wrestling has produced some great Olympic moments over the past twenty years. I specifically remember seeing Kurt Angle win the gold in 1996, but especially, I remember watching Rulon Gardner beat that Russian in 2000 who hadn’t lost since the Bolshevik Revolution. Wrestling is pretty much the ultimate one-on-one, who’s better sport that exists. It’s not for everybody, but it’s pure, and not malicious. And it’s an Olympic icon. Continue reading →

Good advice for parenting young children

Yesterday Steve McKoy posted a very helpful blog entitled “Advice For Parenting Young Kids.” As a father of four, aged 9, 4, 3, 2, I found a lot of good stuff here. I was glad to see I was already doing some of these things, but was also convicted to know that as a parent, a Christian, a pastor, I also still wrestle with sin and thus fall short of my own ideal for what I want the father of my children to be.

I want to do a better job with my own children for the glory of God. I hope, especially if you parent young children like me, that you’ll check out the post and consider how you might do the same.

We need more John the Baptists

Not really John the Baptist.

I’ve always been fascinated with John the Baptist. As a Christian, or even a casual reader of the Bible, how could you not be? After all, this was a guy famous for his diet of locusts and wild honey. He dressed in camel hair. But beyond those external eccentricities, something else about him, or rather said about him, has always caught my attention:

Truly I say to you, among those born of women there has not arisen anyone greater than John the Baptist!

Jesus the Messiah, God in human flesh, the King of Kings and Lord of Lords, and Savior of the world, said that in the first half of Matthew 11:11. And I’m quite sure Jesus’ appraisal of the life of His cousin had nothing to do with his diet or wardrobe. So then, what do we know about John from the Scriptures that would bring Jesus, certainly an authority on human greatness, to say no one born of a woman was ever greater than him? Continue reading →

Andy Stanley: Leader or Pastor?

You can tell a lot about a man’s spiritual maturity and integrity when you observe how he acts and/or what he says when he’s thrust into a highly public position and/or comes under public scrutiny. One of the reasons I’ve always admired John MacArthur and considered him a model pastor-teacher is because whenever he’s been in the midst of controversy he’s stood firm in a gracious manner. Whenever he’s been in the public eye, such as his numerous appearances on Larry King on CNN, he’s gone straight to the gospel and straight to the authority of the Bible.

Oh to have more John MacArthurs in this day and age.

Instead the church and the world is plagued by more “pastors” like Andy Stanley, son of former SBC President and pastor Charles Stanley, and himself pastor of a super-duper-megachurch, North Point Community Church in Alpharetta, GA. Stanley has said two things recently that cause me to lament his stature in evangelicalism. Continue reading →

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THE MATTRIX

Matt Privett on the Bible, church, culture, and how it applies to us for the glory of God