Wrestling Dilemma

Today a friend wrote this to me on Facebook:

"What do you think of a boy wrestling a girl in a formal meet situation? We had this come up and our son chose not to wrestle."


I replied:

"I think that God made male and female as equal but distinctly unique creatures. I don't think that He intended for females to be engaged in martial activities (like combat sports and warfare). I think that the only place where a male and female body should be in uber close proximity rubbing against one another is "under the Chuppah." I think you son made a wise call. I think that many people will label and ridicule him (and me for writing this) as chauvinist. I would call it chivalrous."


What do you think?

Fit and Fat

Don't be confused by the mentality of this world...

Both EXERCISE and FOOD can be an IDOL.

Be sensible with your choices,

love God more than your own self-image,

treat others well because they are HIS creation, not because of their clothing size.

(Disclaimer, that image is NOT me.)



An Anti-Religion Agenda?

I am no conspiracy theorist.  I don't sit around and worry about all the people and organizations out there who are said to be trying to undermine Christianity.  I don't get concerned about the suppossed liberal bias of the media which I have heard about from some of my friends and family.  I don't lose sleep over the Illuminati or the Federal Reserve.

All that said, I am deeply concerned about something that seems to have come to my attention recently.

I am beginning to sense that there is a subversive attempt by a particular segment of our society to discredit and phase out religion, Christianity in particular.

This started a few weeks back.  I heard that a provision of the Obama healthcare plan would require employers to cover contraception in their employee benefits plans.  I am not Catholic.  I am not equating contraception and abortion.  However, I am worried that the government is forcing employers who do have religious reservations about birth control to cover it in their insurance plans.

The administration argues that they are doing nothing to infringe upon freedom of religion because they exempt actual churches.  That means that a megachurch pastor doesn't have to pay for birth control to his staff at the church.  Unfortunately, that principle is not applied to organizations run by a church.  For example, a hospital run by the Catholic church will be forced to include contraception coverage to their nurses, doctors, admin staff, etc.

This differentiation between church and church run organization by the Obama administration is nonsensical.

If an organization is run by the church, it should be guided by the principles of the church.  No one forces the staff to work there.  If they are unhappy with the idea that their insurance plan would not cover birth control, since the governing body of their organization is opposed to such a thing, then they can find employment with another organization not functioning as an arm of the church.

When I heard about this I was appalled and some red flags immediately went up in my non-conspiratorial noggin.

Then a few days later, I heard that Greece just voted that pedophilia is to be counted as a disability!

What?

This is an insane idea and it was amazing how little coverage the major news outlets had on this topic.  Seriously, in an era where we give lots of air time to the issue of Anna Nicole and MJ's death, we can't get some comprehensive coverage and opinion on a matter like this?

Fishy to me and I'm not a "biased media" town cryer.

Lastly, I found out (late in the game) about the ~ 60 New York City churches, who meet in local schools, that they can't meet there anymore.  Apparently a judge justified the decision by stating:

"“A worship service is an act of organized religion that consecrates the place in which it is performed, making it a church."

Again...what?  Where does that bad theology come from?

There are many folks fighting this rule, but alot of people supporting it also.  Its truly insane for all of the reason that Tim Keller notes in the hyperlink above.

The three of these stories, coming so closely on the heels of one another, have given me pause.  It really made me question if there is an agenda out there on the move aganist religion (writ broad) with Christianity as the main target.

I don't have hard evidence and I didn't do a study, but my gut tells me that the success of the homosexual agenda in the last 25 years has given a boost of confidence to those individuals who have long advocated to rid the world of Christians.

These anti-religion folks can see the success of the homosexual movement in such a short period and probably think they can replicate it to some degree.  They may be right.

What will you do when the man comes knocking and telling you to renounce Christ crucified?  It could happen within my kids lifetime.  Keep your eyes open!

Visual Theology - The Bible

From Challies...

Eddie Long crowned "King"

From The Gospel Coalition:

The Story:
In a video that has gone viral on the Internet, Bishop Eddie Long of New Birth Missionary Baptist Church in Atlanta was crowned a "king" by guest speaker Rabbi Ralph Messer.

The Background:
Long, pastor of a 25,000 member megachurch in Georgia, has history of emphasizing "chain of command" between certain superiors and subordinates characterized by "respect, submission and obedience, which makes his "kingship" consistent with his peculiar (and unscriptural) teaching.

In 2006, Long was chosen by the family of Martin Luther King, Jr. to host and officiate the funeral of Coretta Scott King, an event attended by four Presidents (George H. W. Bush, Bill Clinton, George W. Bush and Jimmy Carter). More recently, Long has been the subject of controversy because of Senate investigations concerning whether he has personally profited from his church's tax exempt status and lawsuits alleging sexual relations with underage male members of his parish. (Long has denied wrong doing through his attorneys and has settled the lawsuits out of court.)

Why It Matters:
As The Atlantic's Ta-Nehisi Coates notes, "This video basically was made to offend every conceivable stratum of this country--blacks, Jews, Christians, atheists--basically everyone."

But the reason it matters---or at least should matter to evangelicals---is that it creates the impression in the public's mind that this is the sort of bizarre behavior that goes on in our churches (even if coronations are infrequent). On the positive side, the video could provide an opportunity to invite people into our churches to see what really goes on (e.g., we don't wrap our pastors in Hebrew scrolls) and let them know why we have no king but King Jesus.

UPDATE
Long appears to have apologized.