This comic strip, Close to Home, is drawn and written by John McPherson.
Thursday, June 11, 2020
On a Lighter Note
I don't know...I just thought this was so funny...the look on the mother's face is priceless: "My son is an idiot." She looks like she just realized that this kid will be living with her for the rest of her life.
This comic strip, Close to Home, is drawn and written by John McPherson.
This comic strip, Close to Home, is drawn and written by John McPherson.
Tuesday, June 9, 2020
Discernment for Supporting Organizations
I have made it a habit in my life to always check out the webpage of
organizations I am considering to support. Sometimes you have to dig deep, but
it's worth it to know who you are supporting through money, volunteer work,
etc. Once you learn about them, then it's important to hold that organization
up to the clear light of Scripture and exercise discernment. My pastor did
just that in evaluating the organization, Black Lives Matter.
*********
What follows is another message concerning the fallout our nation is
experiencing after the recent death of George Floyd.
One thing that I’ve seen almost everywhere lately is the call to show one’s support for the organization known as Black Lives Matter (BLM, for short). We are told that one can demonstrate solidarity with BLM in a variety of ways: sharing a BLM related article, posting a black square on Instagram, using related hashtags, kneeling before a black person, and so on.
What I’m about to tell you is that Christians should be very reticent to lend any credence to the BLM organization. Before I explain why, please allow me to lay out a few qualifiers.
The first is this: Obviously, any Bible-believing Christian should be willing to loudly and cheerfully declare that the lives of black people genuinely do matter. In fact, we can go much farther. As people who have been created in the image of God, the lives of black men and women are sacred. And their lives are due the decency and respect that should be given to any being who bears the image of the living Creator (James 3:9-10). Of course, the same can and should be said about any human person, regardless of their racial heritage.
As for the second qualifier: Not all support that is given for the idea that black lives matter is intended to be support for the BLM organization. Many well-meaning people these days, including believers, desire to show their solidarity with the idea and not with BLM proper. That said, the credibility of the BLM organization has dramatically increased in the public consciousness because of the indirect, even accidental, support it has received from many.
Is legitimizing the BLM organization a bad thing? I would argue that is. And the reason is simple. While the BLM organization supports things that many decent people would agree with (equal justice for all under the law, an end to police brutality, etc.), BLM also promotes positions and ideas that Christians should reject.
For example, on the “What We Believe” page of their website, we read this:
We are self-reflexive and do the work required to dismantle cisgender privilege and uplift Black trans folk, especially Black trans women who continue to be disproportionately impacted by trans-antagonistic violence. (https://blacklivesmatter.com/what-we-believe/)
And this:
We foster a queer‐affirming network. When we gather, we do so with the intention of freeing ourselves from the tight grip of heteronormative thinking, or rather, the belief that all in the world are heterosexual (unless s/he or they disclose otherwise). (https://blacklivesmatter.com/what-we-believe/)
While a Christian can join in opposing senseless acts of violence perpetrated on anyone, a Christian cannot lend their support to sexual and gender practices that are clearly at odds with God’s word (Deut. 22:5; Rom. 1:24-32; 1 Cor. 6:9-10; etc.).
We also find this disturbing BLM claim on the same “What We Believe” page:
We disrupt the Western-prescribed nuclear family structure requirement by supporting each other as extended families and “villages” that collectively care for one another, especially our children, to the degree that mothers, parents, and children are comfortable. (https://blacklivesmatter.com/what-we-believe/)
What is so troubling about the statement above is that the nuclear family is not a “Western-prescribed” notion; it was instituted by God Himself as the basic building block of human existence at the first moments of creation (Gen. 1-2). By working to disrupt the nuclear family, BLM, either wittingly or unwittingly, is striving to disrupt God’s design for society. Incidentally, such a goal also puts BLM in league with evil movements like Communism, which desired the same disruption.
The above are just a few examples of BLM positions that should cause Christians to recoil. There are others, but I think those will suffice for now.
The point is simple: Christians cannot lend their support to any organization that is so blatantly at odds with the teachings of the Bible. They cannot do this explicitly. And they should labor, whether it’s in person or online, to not do so implicitly or accidentally.
While we can gladly affirm the importance and even sacredness of every human life, let us never promote an organization that so blatantly rejects vital tenants of our Christian faith. As we are commanded…
14 Do not be bound together with unbelievers; for what partnership have righteousness and lawlessness, or what fellowship has light with darkness? 15 Or what harmony has Christ with Belial, or what has a believer in common with an unbeliever? 16 Or what agreement has the temple of God with idols? For we are the temple of the living God; just as God said, “I will dwell in them and walk among them; And I will be their God, and they shall be My people. 17 “Therefore, come out from their midst and be separate,” says the Lord. “And do not touch what is unclean; And I will welcome you. (2 Cor. 6:14-17)
One thing that I’ve seen almost everywhere lately is the call to show one’s support for the organization known as Black Lives Matter (BLM, for short). We are told that one can demonstrate solidarity with BLM in a variety of ways: sharing a BLM related article, posting a black square on Instagram, using related hashtags, kneeling before a black person, and so on.
What I’m about to tell you is that Christians should be very reticent to lend any credence to the BLM organization. Before I explain why, please allow me to lay out a few qualifiers.
The first is this: Obviously, any Bible-believing Christian should be willing to loudly and cheerfully declare that the lives of black people genuinely do matter. In fact, we can go much farther. As people who have been created in the image of God, the lives of black men and women are sacred. And their lives are due the decency and respect that should be given to any being who bears the image of the living Creator (James 3:9-10). Of course, the same can and should be said about any human person, regardless of their racial heritage.
As for the second qualifier: Not all support that is given for the idea that black lives matter is intended to be support for the BLM organization. Many well-meaning people these days, including believers, desire to show their solidarity with the idea and not with BLM proper. That said, the credibility of the BLM organization has dramatically increased in the public consciousness because of the indirect, even accidental, support it has received from many.
Is legitimizing the BLM organization a bad thing? I would argue that is. And the reason is simple. While the BLM organization supports things that many decent people would agree with (equal justice for all under the law, an end to police brutality, etc.), BLM also promotes positions and ideas that Christians should reject.
For example, on the “What We Believe” page of their website, we read this:
We are self-reflexive and do the work required to dismantle cisgender privilege and uplift Black trans folk, especially Black trans women who continue to be disproportionately impacted by trans-antagonistic violence. (https://blacklivesmatter.com/what-we-believe/)
And this:
We foster a queer‐affirming network. When we gather, we do so with the intention of freeing ourselves from the tight grip of heteronormative thinking, or rather, the belief that all in the world are heterosexual (unless s/he or they disclose otherwise). (https://blacklivesmatter.com/what-we-believe/)
While a Christian can join in opposing senseless acts of violence perpetrated on anyone, a Christian cannot lend their support to sexual and gender practices that are clearly at odds with God’s word (Deut. 22:5; Rom. 1:24-32; 1 Cor. 6:9-10; etc.).
We also find this disturbing BLM claim on the same “What We Believe” page:
We disrupt the Western-prescribed nuclear family structure requirement by supporting each other as extended families and “villages” that collectively care for one another, especially our children, to the degree that mothers, parents, and children are comfortable. (https://blacklivesmatter.com/what-we-believe/)
What is so troubling about the statement above is that the nuclear family is not a “Western-prescribed” notion; it was instituted by God Himself as the basic building block of human existence at the first moments of creation (Gen. 1-2). By working to disrupt the nuclear family, BLM, either wittingly or unwittingly, is striving to disrupt God’s design for society. Incidentally, such a goal also puts BLM in league with evil movements like Communism, which desired the same disruption.
The above are just a few examples of BLM positions that should cause Christians to recoil. There are others, but I think those will suffice for now.
The point is simple: Christians cannot lend their support to any organization that is so blatantly at odds with the teachings of the Bible. They cannot do this explicitly. And they should labor, whether it’s in person or online, to not do so implicitly or accidentally.
While we can gladly affirm the importance and even sacredness of every human life, let us never promote an organization that so blatantly rejects vital tenants of our Christian faith. As we are commanded…
14 Do not be bound together with unbelievers; for what partnership have righteousness and lawlessness, or what fellowship has light with darkness? 15 Or what harmony has Christ with Belial, or what has a believer in common with an unbeliever? 16 Or what agreement has the temple of God with idols? For we are the temple of the living God; just as God said, “I will dwell in them and walk among them; And I will be their God, and they shall be My people. 17 “Therefore, come out from their midst and be separate,” says the Lord. “And do not touch what is unclean; And I will welcome you. (2 Cor. 6:14-17)
Tuesday, June 2, 2020
Prayer for our Country
"Be subject for the Lord's sake to every human institution,[b] whether it be to the emperor[c] as supreme, or to governors as sent by him to punish those who do evil and to praise those who do good. For this is the will of God, that by doing good you should put to silence the ignorance of foolish people. Live as people who are free, not using your freedom as a cover-up for evil, but living as servants[d] of God. Honor everyone. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honor the emperor. - 1 Peter 2:13-17
Prayer from the 1906 Presbyterian Common Book of Worship
Prayer from the 1906 Presbyterian Common Book of Worship
Almighty God, King of kings, and Lord of lords, from whom proceed all power and dominion in heaven and earth; most heartily we ask you to look with favor upon your servants, the President of the United States, the governor of the state, and all others in authority. Give them the spirit of wisdom, goodness, and truth; and so rule their hearts, and bless their endeavors, that law and order, justice and peace may everywhere prevail. Make us strong and great in the fear of God, and in the love of righteousness; so that being blessed of you, we may become a blessing to all nations, to the praise of the glory of your grace, through Jesus Christ. Amen.
Monday, June 1, 2020
Doing Good in the Eyes of the Lord
"'Do not be afraid. These are the things you are to do: Speak the truth to each other, and render true and sound judgment in your courts; do not plot evil against each other, and do not love to swear falsely. I hate all this,' declares the Lord." - Zechariah 8:15b-17
Thursday, May 28, 2020
Light in the Darkness
"The richest grace, does it not lie in the heaviest sorrow? Was it not 'in the burning fiery furnace' the three Hebrew children saw 'the form of the fourth, like the Son of God,' walking in the midst of the fire? It was when 'Moses drew near to the thick darkness where God was,' that he spake with Him face to face and heard His voice. And how often it is in 'the thick darkness' Jehovah reveals Himself as the Comforter of His people! The cloud which settles down upon a desolate home, He graciously fills with His own presence: we find it to be 'secret of His Tabernacle,' the 'pavilion' in which He 'will show His Covenant.'
"The Divine love breaks through the gloom, as once it burst through the terrors of Sinai and the darkness of Calvary. It is not what we would have chosen; but in this dark cloud we learn that it is best sometimes to be alone with Him. The earthly lights are put out, that no earthly love may come in between Him and us." - B. M. Palmer
"The Divine love breaks through the gloom, as once it burst through the terrors of Sinai and the darkness of Calvary. It is not what we would have chosen; but in this dark cloud we learn that it is best sometimes to be alone with Him. The earthly lights are put out, that no earthly love may come in between Him and us." - B. M. Palmer
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