‘Be the Change’: Chicago Pastor Urges Churches To Fight Gun Violence in Hard Areas

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July 12, 2022

CHICAGO (BP) — New Beginnings Church of Chicago Assistant Pastor T.J. Grooms ministers in Parkway Gardens, a low-income housing development where a mass shooting occurred early July 1 next door to the South Side church.

“I know everybody in that community,” Grooms said. “I knew three out of the five that were shot. It happened in the wee hours of the morning, and my phone was blowing up around 2:30 that morning.”

At least 10 people were shot dead and 62 injured across Chicago during the July 4th weekend, the Parkway Gardens incident among the first.

But the Chicago shootings, frequent occurrences, were lost in the shadow of the July Fourth mass shooting considered an anomaly in affluent Highland Park, a suburb 30 miles north.

Grooms doesn’t downplay the Highland Park tragedy, but encourages Americans and particularly fellow Southern Baptists to treat Chicago’s violence with as much disdain shown the violence in Highland Park.

“When they see the statistics on the internet or in the media,” Grooms said, “I don’t want them to sit back and say, ‘yeah, another one.’ I don’t want them to be completely desensitized or just see it as a statistic.

“I want them to imagine that their son or daughter that they have brought up and tried their best to steer in the right direction, goes out and doesn’t come home. When you view it in that manner, you tend to help.”

The relative silence over the shootings in Chicago reflects, for Grooms, the lack of workers available to reap the plentiful harvest Jesus speaks of in Scripture.

“The harvest is always in areas where people don’t want to work,” Grooms said. “I see the marginalized of our society as harvest. I don’t see them as waste. I don’t see them as dung. I don’t see them as anything that should not be worked on. I see them as a harvest. I see a gangbanger as a harvest. I see someone who is on the low end of the totem pole economically as a harvest.

“I believe that there are treasures that are trapped, as the Scripture says, in earthen vessels,” Grooms said. “And it is my job to do whatever I can to make sure that they realize that treasure in them. But in order for me to get to the treasure, because it’s in an earthen vessel, I got to get past their dirt. … I live by that principle.”

Grooms laments having normalized crime in the area himself until he had to bury a young church member who died from gun violence that was gang-related.

“I had gotten to the place where (I said) this is normal, and I should never have been that way. But I got there,” he said. “But this one hit different because this one was extremely close to me. It was almost like the first time I lost somebody over again.

“There are nights where I can’t sleep. There are times my wife (Quinn) and I will sit down and talk because she’s concerned about losing people that way. There are times when I’m like, Lord, is what I’m doing even working?”

Survey: Post-Roe, White Evangelicals Remain Outliers on Abortion Laws

By

Bob Smietana

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July 12, 2022

(RNS) — With Roe v. Wade overturned, white evangelicals support restricting abortion, including through so-called heartbeat laws that ban abortion as early as six weeks into a pregnancy, according to a new survey.

Almost all want to see abortion banned after 15 weeks.

More than half said providing an abortion should be a felony.

These views put them at odds with Americans from every other faith background, according to new data from the Washington, D.C.-based Public Religion Research Institute. The survey found Catholic, Black Protestant, non-Christian and unaffiliated Americans are more supportive of abortion rights than white evangelicals, said Melissa Deckman, CEO of PRRI.

Deckman said that overall, support for legal abortion had risen in the past decade. In 2010, PRRI found that 55% of Americans said abortion should be legal in most or all cases. Today, she said, that number has jumped to two-thirds.

“Americans have become more supportive of abortion rights in the past decade,” she said. “I think part of that is driven by the fact that we have more religiously unaffiliated Americans.”

The survey of 2,038 Americans, which used the Ipsos online panel, was conducted from June 24 to June 26 and was put in the field right after the announcement of the Dobbs decision, which overturned Roe. The idea was to get an immediate response from the public.

“Having the survey in the field immediately after the court released the Dobbs decision was by design, allowing us to evaluate the decision’s impact on public attitudes in near-real-time,” said a PRRI spokesman in an email.

Several states have begun to enact so-called trigger laws to restrict abortion in the wake of the Dobbs decision. Those laws, in states like Texas, Tennessee and Oklahoma, included provisions to put them in effect if Roe was overturned. The Dobbs decision put abortion regulation back into the hands of states — and, for some states seeking to enact new laws, into the hands of voters.

American Jewish Groups Denounce Presbyterian Church for Calling Israel ‘Apartheid’

By

Yonat Shimron

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July 12, 2022

(RNS) — U.S. Jewish organizations have responded angrily to the vote by the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) declaring Israel an apartheid state, with some saying it amounted to antisemitism.

On Friday (July 8), the 1.1 million member denomination’s general assembly voted 266 – 116 on a resolution that stated “Israel’s laws, policies, and practices constitute apartheid against the Palestinian people.” It also voted to add May 15 to the church calendar as a day of mourning the displacement of Palestinians in 1948 when Israel was created. The commemoration is often called the Nakba, or catastrophe, in Palestinian communities.

The vote was the latest in a long line of deteriorating relations between traditionally liberal Protestant denominations and the U.S. Jewish establishment, but the PCUSA’s actions may be the most longstanding subject of Jewish organizations’ ire.

“Jewish Federations are not surprised by the latest antisemitic action taken by Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) in its vote to adopt a resolution calling Israel an apartheid state,” the Jewish Federations of North America said in a statement. “There was a time when their words mattered. That time is long gone.”

The Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)’s claims are backed by several human rights groups, including Jewish ones, and in its use of the term apartheid to refer to Israel’s occupation of the West Bank. Israeli human rights group B’Tselem published a report in January describing the Israeli government as overseeing a nondemocratic “apartheid regime.” Human Rights Watch also used the word in a 2021 report accusing Israel of “apartheid and persecution.” Amnesty International followed in February of this year, releasing a report titled “Israel’s apartheid against Palestinians: Cruel system of domination and crime against humanity.”

But the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)’s criticisms of Israel are part of a two-decade-old decline in relations that seems to have gained momentum of late.

In January, American Jewish organizations were outraged by comments by the Presbyterian Church’s stated clerk, or chief executive, when he described Israeli policies toward Palestinians as “enslavement.”

In his reflection on Martin Luther King Jr. Day (Jan. 17), Stated Clerk Herbert Nelson II said, “The continued occupation in Palestine/Israel is 21st-century slavery and should be abolished immediately.”

In 2014, the denomination voted to divest from three companies that it says supply Israel with equipment used in the occupation of Palestinian territory. That same year, its Israel/Palestine Mission Network published “Zionism Unsettled,” a study guide calling Zionism — the movement undergirding the founding of Israel as a Jewish homeland — a “pathology” and “a doctrine that promotes death rather than life.”

The Rev. Jerry Pillay, the new general secretary of the World Council of Churches, on June 17, 2022. Photo by Peter Williams/WCC

The recent election of the Rev. Jerry Pillay, former general secretary of the Uniting Presbyterian Church in Southern Africa, to lead the World Council of Churches beginning this fall was an immediate sore point.

Pillay published a theological paper in 2016 titled “Apartheid in the Holy Land: Theological reflections on the Israel and/or Palestine situation from a South African perspective,” which concluded that a “comparison between the Israel-Palestine conflict and the South African apartheid experience is, indeed, justifiable.”

While U.S. Jews hold a range of views on Israeli politics, with some strongly defending and others strongly critical of Israel’s policies in the occupied territories, most Jewish institutional groups defend Israel and oppose any suggestion its actions in the occupied territories constitute apartheid.

NFL Star Quits to Play for God’s Team: 3 Lessons for Families

By

Andrew Linder

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July 12, 2022

You might have missed this story from last week, but there are some great lessons in it for families…Khari Willis leaves the NFL to enter the Gospel ministry, potentially leaving millions of dollars on the table. Khari was a starting safety for the Indianapolis Colts who unexpectedly announced his retirement this past week.

“I have elected to officially retire from the NFL as I endeavor to devote the remainder of my life to the further advancement of the Gospel of Jesus Christ… I am both humbled and excited to pursue the holy call that God has for my life which brings me much joy and purpose,” said Khari.

Here are three life-lessons worth discussing with your kids about his decision.

There Is Something Far More Important Than SPORTS.

We live in a culture that is saturated with prioritizing sports, and especially for children. Parents often make massive investments of time and money in their child’s sports success. I am not against kids sports, as my children have participated in many themselves. However, when what is good becomes the enemy of what is best in the lives of our children, we must be on guard against the enemy’s attacks. Here is a helpful article I shared this past week on this topic.

Someone once wisely said, “There is a .0296% chance your child will become a professional athlete. There is a 100% chance your child will stand before Jesus.”

Jesus himself said, “For whosoever will save his life shall lose it, but whosoever shall lose his life for my sake and the gospel’s, the same shall save it. For what shall it profit a man if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul.” (Mark 8:35-36)

There Is Something Far More Important Than MONEY.

Khari Willis was making $850,000 in his rookie season, and was expected to be offered millions at the end of this coming season. However, there was something of more value to him than any amount of money. What could possibly be of such great importance that he’d give up “the dream life” that many would do just about anything in order to gain? What would a rising star in the NFL who is on track to make millions give it all up for?

One thing – the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Jesus said, “Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal: But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven… For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.” (Matthew 6:19-21)

There Is Something Far More Important Than FAME.

What value is there for all of earth to know one’s name if that name is never known by heaven? Khari is a great example of someone who was willing prioritize what matters most – to give up an earthly crown for a heavenly one and temporary fame for eternal gain. Few people are willing to make such a sacrifice.

How to Make a Church Pre-Service Video That People Love to Share

By

Hal Seed

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July 12, 2022

thank you notes for children’s ministry volunteers

Like you, I’m always looking for new ideas that will make my church better. When I got the idea from Rich Birch’s podcast 5 Elements of Effective Pre-Service Video to make a countdown pre-service video for our services that shows our church in our city, I knew we had to do it.

It’s brilliant: Give guests a two-minute story of your church as they take their seats and they will likely be more predisposed to your church. And reinforce your church values with your congregation without a word, every week—that’s brilliant, too. Then see it spread across social media to attract the community? Priceless.

Watch our pre-service video, then I’ll break down how to make one of your own.

Six Steps to Making a Pre-Service Video about your Church

Cover every step of your pre-service video in prayer. Commit to the Lord whatever you do, and he will establish your plans. (Pr. 16:3)

1. Think through the purpose and goals.

Think through what is important about your church. What is your story for your city?

We wanted to show each of our campuses and their cities. We wanted to show what we value—our DNA. We decided to show the ministries of our church in the context of our DNA statements.

And importantly, we wanted to show that our church is more than a Sunday morning service. It’s alive all week long, all across our region. It’s a place to find meaning and value in Jesus.

Action: How do you want to tell the story of your church in your community?

2. Ask the person in your church who has experience making videos to do this project.

We have a very capable music and video producer, Joe Tran, in our church. He brought his experience to the project and you can see his talent in the video.

Find the best person you can and don’t be intimidated by others’ expertise. Be authentic and do your best.

Action: Who should you ask to do this project?

An Invitation to Belong: Seeker Small Groups

By

Outreach Media Group

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July 12, 2022

seeker small groups — Adobestock #287067804

When a small group of about 11 people at Great Exchange Covenant Church in Sunnyvale, Calif. noticed one young woman’s absence, a member called her to follow up. It turns out she’d stopped coming to the meetings because she couldn’t afford the train ride. “The small group members just totally felt for this girl,” says Great Exchange Pastor David Chae. So the group paid for her train rides to the meetings. “She was so moved by that,” Chae says regarding seeker small groups. “That’s what churches ought to be. We’re just trying to create containers and environments for how God wants to move.”

Shaping those containers with not-yet-believers in mind has been a part of seeker-friendly churches for a couple of decades. But today, even those churches are questioning the philosophy of an outreach that expects other people to take the first step—a giant leap from postmodernity to the inside of a church.

Rather than turn to an alternative program or a different evangelism methodology, many church leaders are looking to shift the model of ministry focusing on two biblical priorities: sharing Christ and creating community.

Ken Wilson is a bridge engineer in Zelienople, Pa. Evangelism is not his spiritual gift, he says. He has had little training in apologetics. And he stutters. But after he completed a one-day training course on seeker small groups, he wanted to lead one. So he found a co-leader and began planning and praying.

But after going door-to-door in his neighborhood to invite men to join a group discussion of spiritual matters, Wilson’s enthusiasm waned.

“Eighteen guys turned us down,” he says.

He and his co-leader later realized that the people who did accept their invitation were those with whom they’d already built friendships. “The key ingredient to our successful invitations was an existing relationship with good rapport,” he says.

Eventually, Wilson’s group of 10 men met over the course of nine months, bringing biblical truths into a practical study of how to be a better husband and father.

But when the group broke up for the summer, and one particularly skeptic member still hadn’t verbalized an acceptance of Christ, Wilson was discouraged. “Then a few weeks later, my apprentice and I were at this guy’s house for a relaxing evening, and he gave his life to the Lord. How cool is that?”

It’s easy to get excited about changed lives, says Lynn Reece, director of women’s ministry at Southeast Christian Church in Louisville, KY. She was so passionate about generating that excitement outside church walls that she converted the summer Bible study program to seeker small groups called neighborhood groups.

In a congregation accustomed to ministering to one another, Reece is outspoken about the call to reach the unchurched. “They’re self-centered when it comes to Bible study,” she says. “I don’t think people take Matthew 28 literally.”

That summer, some 1,000 people attended seeker small groups led by Southeast and a dozen other Louisville-area churches. About 75 percent of the participants were unbelievers.

Says Reece: “It’s about the people who aren’t in the church.”

Inside Seeker Small Groups

Outreach assembled a panel of leaders with unique insight and experience in launching, leading and growing small groups that appeal to and resonate with unbelievers. On the following pages, they share what they’ve learned over the years about small groups, including who’s most likely to attend, keys to success, the failure factors and why so many churches struggle with the holy huddle syndrome.

As the founder of Salt Shaker Ministries (saltshaker.org), Rebecca Manley Pippert travels the world (her latest visit was to Malaysia) training Christians to start and facilitate seeker small groups. She speaks to churches and at conferences, equipping believers to reach the unchurched. Pippert will be a keynote speaker at the 2006 National Outreach Convention.

The director of evangelism at Willow Creek Community Church (willowcreek.org) in South Barrington, Ill., Garry Poole has taught thousands of Christians how to lead seeker small groups. He travels nationwide, challenging church leaders to make evangelism a priority in their congregations. Poole was raised in a Christian home but says nothing quite compares to cheering on seekers as they take spiritual steps toward Christ.

David Chae says he felt God calling him to plant a multi-ethnic, Gospel-centered church in California’s Silicon Valley, where an estimated 87 percent of the area’s population is unchurched. Since beginning Great Exchange Covenant Church (greatexchangechurch.org) in 2001, Chae has used small groups to connect people to Jesus Christ and each other. Great Exchange, he says, is a “church of small groups, instead of a church with small groups.”

For more on seeker small groups Read Page 2>>

Why Youth Ministry Is Stressful — and How to Avoid Burnout

By

Rachel Blom

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July 11, 2022

Have you ever wondered why youth ministry is stressful — and what you can do about it? If so, read on!

Recent statistics about pastors and stress are shocking. And although the scope of responsibility may differ, being a youth pastor isn’t that different from being a pastor. Especially in bigger churches, leading the youth ministry can be a lot like leading a church. That means stress is a reality for many youth pastors too.

Why youth ministry is stressful

Because youth ministry comes with its own unique challenges, it may be extra stressful. Youth workers are especially at risk for burnout, states youth ministry veteran Richard Parker.^[1] Here’s what he says about why youth ministry is stressful:

Youth ministry tends to be cyclical, with few definable end points.
Dealing with problems in students’ lives can seem like a never-ending job.
The hard work of getting parents and volunteers to help share the load in student ministry can lead to frustration and overwork.
Youth ministry tends to be a job with high expectations, low pay and a low position on the church personnel flowchart.
Youth ministers and leaders tend to be “people pleasers” who overcommit and have a hard time saying no.

Matt Murphy, another ministry veteran with experience in counseling and trauma, offers more reasons for why youth ministry is stressful. He also points to reasons for high rates of “compassion fatigue.”^[2] I’ve chosen those that I think are most relevant:

Unchallenging work
Monotonous routines
One-way relationship
Perfectionism
Need for approval
Lack of feedback
Low salary
Difficult populations
Unrealistic expectations
Need to control others
Overworked
Poor boundaries
Pressure from supervisors
Personal problems

Do you recognize any of these? I sure cringed at a few.

My thoughts on stress in youth ministry

Next, I’d like to add some personal observations and thoughts. I think personality plays a big part. Like many other youth pastors who struggle with stress, I’m a type A personality. So I have a great drive to succeed, am prone to perfectionism, and am always willing to help others. That doesn’t help ease stress, obviously.

‘Hellfire Club’: Parent Blasted Online After Asking if Adolescent Should Take a ‘Stranger Things’ Water Bottle to Christian School

By

Jesse T. Jackson

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July 11, 2022

(L) 'Stranger Things' trailer screengrab via YouTube @Stranger Things (R) 'Stranger Things' themed 'Hellfire Club' water bottle screengrab via Amazon.com

A parent recently asked other parents if it was okay for her 10-year-old daughter to take a satanic looking water bottle inspired by the popular Netflix show “Stranger Things: Season 4” to her Christian school on a London based internet forum Mumsnet.

A number of parents responded, astonished that a parent would even let their young child watch the show.

The Mumsnet user, who goes by flightofthesevenmillionbumblebees, explained that her daughter loves Stranger Things and recently purchased a water bottle with the word’s “Hellfire Club” on it, which is the name of a high school “Dungeons and Dragons” club in the show. The logo contains an image of a devil head.

The popular tabletop role playing game “Dungeons and Dragons” (also known as “D & D” and created in 1974) plays an important role throughout the series. “D & D” has been viewed by many conservative Christians as demonic because of its occult elements. An article by “Focus on the Family’s” entertainment publication “Plugged In” shared that “some former players have said that ‘D & D’ brought them into contact with demonic activity.”

“Stranger Things: Season 4” also shows graphic imagery of an underworld called the “upside down,” which is an alternate world that one could assume represents a form of hell and has creatures called “Demobats.” These creatures strangle and eat humans when they become trapped in the alternate world. The “upside down” is also the home of Vecna, a skull-like demon creature who haunts and kills human prey by entering their thoughts.

The parent also explained that although she sends her child to a Christian school, hers is not a religious family. Thus, she asked if she was being unreasonable in allowing her daughter to take the water bottle to school, since it was merely a logo from the television show rather than a demonic image.

“That is not in anyway about devil worshipping or anything actually related to the devil or religion,” the parent said, comparing the devil emblazoned water bottle to “Harry Potter” and “Star Wars.”

The parent further shared that her daughter was “told off” by a teacher a couple of weeks prior for drawing an image of a devil. The teacher told her it wasn’t “appropriate to be drawing a devil at a Christian school.”

The parent believes that because of the teacher’s prior actions, the school might act similarly when they see the “Hellfire Club” water bottle.

Pastor John Gray Admitted to ER; Wife Aventer Says They ‘Need a Miracle’

By

Jessica Lea

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July 11, 2022

John Gray, lead pastor of Relentless Church in Greenville, South Carolina, was admitted to the ER over the weekend with a saddle pulmonary embolism. His wife, Aventer, who is co-pastor of the church, shared the news on Instagram and asked her followers to pray for her husband’s life.

“Hello family,” said Aventer Gray in an Instagram post. “My family and I stand in need of a miracle. Please keep my husband…in your prayers.”

John Gray’s Life in Danger

In her post, Aventer explained that after “feeling a little different” for a couple weeks, John Gray went to the ER, where he “was immediately admitted.” The Grays learned John had a “saddle pulmonary embolism in the pulmonary artery and more lung blood clots.”

The pulmonary arteries are responsible for carrying blood from the right side of the heart to the lungs. According to the National Library of Medicine, a saddle pulmonary embolism is a rare type of blood clot that can be life-threatening. Moreover, “saddle pulmonary embolism can be difficult to recognize, and data on its presentation, clinical features, and associated complications are sparse.”

“The Saddle PE is in a position that could potentially end his life if it shifts at all,” said Aventer. “The clot burden is severe and only God is holding it in place.” She said that John would need two types of surgery within the next 24 hours to relieve pressure on his heart, adding, “To place this in perspective, the doctor said that people have come into the hospital dead with this exact scenario he walked in with. The doctor said God has to keep him through the night and he can not move, not even get up to walk to a bathroom.”

Pastor John Gray

John Gray, a former associate pastor of Joel Osteen’s Lakewood Church in Houston, Texas, is a somewhat controversial figure. In 2019, Gray admitted to having an “emotional affair” with another woman, and in September 2020, Gray apologized to his wife and congregation after new allegations surfaced of an inappropriate relationship. Gray did not address specifics, but said some aspects of the rumors were true and some were not.

Gray has faced several lawsuits in recent years. One of these involved a dispute between Relentless Church and Redemption Church, which had previously owned Relentless’s property. Gray’s church faced a potential eviction until the legal battle was resolved in November 2020.

Religious Couples Who Marry Young, Do Not Cohabitate Are Less Likely To Divorce, Research Finds

By

Stephanie Martin

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July 11, 2022

According to new research, couples of faith who pursue marrying young without living together first have the lowest odds of divorce. These results challenge the conventional wisdom that young adults should be career-oriented during their 20s and wait until they’re more mature to tie the knot.

In a post titled “The Surprising Case for Marrying Young,” sociology professor W. Bradford Wilcox, director of the National Marriage Project, reveals that cohabiting couples are 15% more likely to get divorced than couples who don’t live together before marriage.

Wilcox, who conducted the research with Lyman Stone for the Institute for Family Studies, says, “Saving cohabitation for marriage, and endowing your relationship with sacred significance, seems to maximize your odds of being stably and happily married.” He emphasizes the importance of “shared faith,” which “is linked to more sexual fidelity, greater commitment, and higher relationship quality.”

With Relationships, More Experience Isn’t Better

Wilcox points to the example of Joey and Samantha, a Catholic couple who met in New York City and married at age 24. That surprised their peers, who are enjoying independence and focusing on careers. But the pair, who now live in Dallas, say sharing a faith and not living together first has made marriage “so exciting” and “that much sweeter.”

“The religious guys are more long-term guys,” says Samantha, “They’re going to share my morals and my values.” Meanwhile, other potential dates are just “looking to have a good time.”

If you cohabitate first, adds Samantha, you “always see leaving as an option.” And that mindset remains once you’re married. Those partners “always can see that there’s a door to leave,” she says, “whereas since we didn’t [live with anyone beforehand, leaving is] just not an option we would think of.”

Wilcox also cites psychologist Galena Rhodes, who says, “We generally think that having more experience is better…but what we find for relationships is just the opposite.” Instead, having more cohabitation partners sets you up for making comparisons that could undermine your eventual marriage.

Other Research Also Supports Marrying Young

Another project, the “State of Our Unions 2022” report, compares “cornerstone” marriages (between people ages 20 to 24) and “capstone” marriages (between people older than 25). Contrary to popular belief, researchers found that later capstone marriages aren’t necessarily more stable and may even lead to lower-quality relationships.

“Society ought to consider that cornerstone marriages can be just as nurturing, stable, and satisfying as capstone marriages—if not more so for many couples,” says primary author Alan Hawkins. Marrying as teens remains “a significant risk factor,” he points out, but beyond that, “age is not the strong indicator of success in marriage that many believe it to be.”

Colorado Pastor Charged in Connection with Capitol Riot After Former Bible College Classmate Tips Off FBI

By

Dale Chamberlain

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July 11, 2022

Former youth pastor Tyler Ethridge, 33, was arrested in Denver on Friday (July 8) on suspicion that he was involved in the Capitol riot of January 6, 2021. The most damning evidence against Ethridge is content he posted publicly to social media himself.

A former Bible college classmate tipped off federal agents to Ethridge’s involvement.

According to Insider, the former classmate told Federal police that Ethridge was “telling everyone” on Facebook about being “on scaffolding outside Nancy Pelosi’s office and inside the chamber.”

The former classmate attended Charis Bible College, a Woodland Park, Colorado, school founded by Andrew Wommack, where Ethridge was also a student. The classmate’s name has not been made public.

Ethridge flew with two other people from Denver International Airport to Philadelphia on January 4, 2021, and drove to Washington D.C. to attend former president Trump’s rally and participate in the subsequent storming of the Capitol building on January 6, according to the arrest report.

The U.S. Attorney’s office said that Ethridge helped to remove barricades outside the Capitol Building and told the crowd to “keep fighting” as protesters engaged in a physical altercation with police guarding the Capitol.

In one video Ethridge posted online, he can be seen getting pepper sprayed and shot with rubber bullets by Capitol police, who were attempting to disperse the crowd.

“I’m probably going to lose my job as a pastor after this,” Ethridge later said in a video from inside the Capitol rotunda, his eyes still apparently suffering the effects of pepper spray. “But what is it going to take? … I think we’re to a point where talk is cheap. If this makes me lose my reputation, I don’t care.”

According to 9News, Ethridge was fired from his job as a youth pastor at a church in Florida less than two weeks later for his involvement in the Capitol riot.

The U.S. Attorney further reported that in a September 24 social media post, Ethridge said, “Don’t be afraid of what they sentence you with. I’m not. I’m ready for whatever I’ll be charged with.”

Naked and Unashamed: Christians Strip Down at a South Texas Nudist Community

By

Jeremy Lindenfeld

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July 11, 2022

(RNS) — Outside the small Texas town of Elsa, a sheet metal fence too tall to see over surrounds a few acres of prime Rio Grande Valley land. In front of the compound’s drab, gray gate, bright orange letters spell out “Nature’s Resort.” The gate opens to reveal a seemingly ordinary community. RVs and small homes line the roads, péntaque and pickleball courts offer residents recreational spaces, and the front office acts as the community’s nucleus.

Nothing looks amiss, except that is, for what’s missing — namely, clothing.

Misty Katz, part owner of Nature’s Resort, finds comfort in shunning clothes. Growing up in South Africa, she was scolded by her parents for undressing in public when her clothes got dirty. She didn’t take those lessons too seriously. More than half a century later, she lives at a nudist (or naturist) resort in South Texas and doesn’t worry about dirty clothes anymore.

For as long as Katz has been a nudist, she has also been a Christian.

Public nudity may seem antithetical to the modesty often promoted by churches, but to Katz, the two go hand in hand. “Believe it or not, we are modest,” Katz says. “Modesty doesn’t mean you have to cover everything up. We don’t display our wares, we’re not adorning various parts of our bodies in a way that’s going to attract attention.”

Her idea of modesty echoes Pope John Paul II’s 1981 book “Love and Responsibility,” in which he writes “nakedness itself is not immodest.” He goes on to explain that immodesty presents itself only when nakedness serves to sexually arouse.

At Nature’s Resort, public nudity is not sexual. “The initial conception is that this is a sexual thing,” Katz says. “People think we’re all out on the front lawn having sex with each other, swapping partners. In fact, if there is any overt sexuality, you see that gate open real fast and somebody is ushered out.”

Some Christian critics of nudism, including Mary Lowman of The Christian Working Woman, see the lifestyle as an affront to God. On her website’s page The Christian Dress Code, Lowman claims “God’s dress code from the beginning has been to cover our nakedness.”

Even still, nudism attracts unlikely allies. Some nondenominational, hard-line conservative clergy accept nudism. Pastor Ron Smith, of McAllen’s Church of the King, vehemently opposes homosexuality, abortion and the transgender community, but when it comes to nudism, his strident views loosen up.

“I think it’s odd, I think it’s strange, but I have no proof it’s sinning,” Smith said. “We have a retired couple that sit in the front row every Sunday that live at a nudist camp. I believe they’re dedicated Christians.”

‘Equivalent to JFK’: Japanese Baptists Lament Abe Assassination

By

Diana Chandler

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July 11, 2022

HOLT, Mo. (BP) – The assassination of former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe July 7 is likely on par with that of late U.S. President John F. Kennedy in 1963, Japanese-American Southern Baptist pastor Jonathan Hayashi told Baptist Press.

“First and foremost what a tragic, tragic thing that I cannot remember in my lifetime ever seeing something as tragic happen like this,” said Hayashi, senior pastor of Northern Hills Baptist Church in Holt, Mo. “It’s probably equivalent to JFK. Unheard of.”

Abe, the longest serving Japanese prime minister, from 2007-2020, was shot down during a political speech outdoors in Nara, Japan. Police identified his suspected assassin as 41-year-old Yamagami Tetsuya, an unemployed man who police said confessed to shooting Abe with a homemade gun and is in police custody. The 67-year-old Abe was born into a family of prime ministers and remained “the most powerful figure in Japanese politics, even without any formal title,” the Atlantic wrote in a July 8 editorial.

Peter Yanes, executive director of Asian American relations and mobilization for the Southern Baptist Convention Executive Committee, lamented the killing.

“It’s a horrific tragedy that shouldn’t happen to any national leader or anyone,” Yanes told Baptist Press. “My prayers go with the former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s family and that justice will be served.

“I pray for our churches and missionaries in Japan as they tirelessly share our hope in the Gospel through Jesus Christ and to all our Japanese American churches in serving and providing comfort to their community during this difficult time. Our Asian American Collective leadership and churches will join you in prayers.”

Hayashi, a member of the Southern Baptist Asian American Collective leadership team, said the assassination has sparked fear in Japan. Hayashi also expressed hope in the Gospel.

“Abe was the longest lasting, faithful prime minister,” Hayashi said, “and (for) someone (who) left behind as dynamic of a legacy to be tragically assassinated, there is fear in our country.

“I think at this time though, what an opportunity for Christians to give the hope of the Gospel. I think in (the Japanese people’s) present helplessness, their future hopelessness, for such a time as this, this is an opportunity for the International Mission Board, for missionaries to rise up to give help and hope and healing in the name of Jesus.

“I’ve been praying that Japan, known as a rising sun, the country, would come to know the risen son of God, and I think this is a great opportunity for Christians to rise up.”

Officials Investigate Vandalism, Fires at Maryland Churches

By

AP News

-

July 11, 2022

fires — Photo via Unsplash.com @fourcolourblack

BETHESDA, Md. (AP) — Investigations are underway into several weekend incidents of apparent arson and vandalism at churches in Maryland, authorities said.

Montgomery County authorities said the incidents took place at three churches of different denominations a short distance away from each other in Bethesda, TV station WJLA reported.

Overnight Sunday, a blaze was apparently set at St. Jane Frances De Chantal Parish, forcing worshippers to attend mass at an alternate location Sunday morning, news outlets reported.

Dozens of firefighters responded to an alarm at the church around 2 a.m. and quickly extinguished the fire, according to the Montgomery County Fire and Rescue Service.

The fire involved several pews in the main church area, Pete Piringer, a spokesman for the agency, tweeted. No injuries were reported.

In a statement about the fire, a spokesperson from the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Washington said the archdiocese was shocked by the incident but that they are a “resilient community of faith.”

Earlier in the weekend, a fire was set at a Methodist church that was broken into, according to fire officials. Also Saturday, investigators found damaged headstones and broken wood pieces scattered around the vicinity of Wildwood Baptist Church, WJLA reported.

This article originally appeared here.

God’s Mission Has a Church: My Interview With Tabletalk Magazine

By

Ed Stetzer

-

July 11, 2022

My friends at Tabletalk asked me to do an interview a few years back. I was glad to agree.

Be sure to subscribe here. Here is the interview:

Tabletalk: Please describe how you became a Christian and your current ministry.

Ed Stetzer: I grew up on Long Island, outside of New York City, in a nominal Irish Catholic home. My sister was the first in my family to hear the gospel and trust Christ. She rode a church bus from our home in Levittown to a small congregation nearby. She heard about grace and mercy and began to share the gospel with the rest of us.

My mother soon became a Christian, shortly before we moved from New York to Florida. I saw something in my mom that I lacked and I wanted—a changed life. Yet her world came apart. A daughter with cancer at age 12. Moving far from home and family. Soon, a divorce. But she had Christ, and He gave her strength.

My mother started attending a mainline Protestant church and then encouraged me (forced me, really) to go as well. Eventually, she pushed me into going to a retreat where she knew the gospel would be shared. In the back of a camp chapel (where the boys sat who did not want to be there), I heard the gospel message as the speaker invited me to trust and follow Christ. On August 13, 1977, I did just that.

I was called to pastoral ministry first as a church planter in Buffalo, N.Y., and Erie, Pa. However, my ministry journey has made many different stops as a pastor, professor, teacher, and strategist.

My current ministry has many aspects. I am president of Lifeway Research, and I also oversee communications and ministry development for Lifeway Christian Resources as a whole. I am general editor of The Gospel Project, a curriculum used by half a million Christians each week. I teach at a few seminaries in the area of missiology, and I speak to groups and denominations about mission, evangelism, church revitalization, and church planting. I am also pastor of Grace Church in Hendersonville, Tenn., which I planted with a group of people three years ago.

TT: What does it mean for the church to be “missional”?

ES: Spurgeon once said, “Every Christian is either a missionary or an impostor.” Though we might want to clarify the language, the impulse is what we need—every Christian is called to live on mission.

So, to be missional means that a church realizes it exists to join Jesus in God’s mission in the power of the Spirit.

Mission is rooted in the identity of God Himself. God is on a mission, and Jesus is the embodiment of that mission. Jesus identifies Himself as being sent more than forty times in the gospel of John. Then, near the end of the gospel of John, He says, “As the Father has sent me, I am sending you” (John 20:21).

The church is sent on mission by Jesus. It’s not that the church has a mission, but rather that the mission has a church. We join Jesus on His mission.

To be missional means that a church realizes it exists to join Jesus in God’s mission in the power of the Spirit.

A missional church is one that seeks to engage all of the church in the activity God has for them—His mission. Our goal should be to move them from just sitting in rows to living in such a way that they are engaged in the work God has for them.

That mission might be in, through, or beyond the church, but it is ultimately rooted in obedience to Christ and obedience to His call.

TT: How does your emphasis on mission affect your own life?

ES: I believe that if you are going to write on leadership, people who know you should consider you a great leader. If you are going to write on ethics, people around you must see you as having the highest ethics. And, if you are going to preach the Bible, you need to be living it out. So, if you are going to write and speak about mission, there ought to be missional activity in your life.

So, for me, I ask myself that question regularly. In the past I was more vocationally focused on missional engagement, whereas now I’m more focused on missional exhortation—but personally, I must stay regularly engaged in mission.

I’m not perfect, and need to do more, but I seek to do that in a few ways:

First, I’m on mission in my neighborhood. I’ve intentionally focused on my eight nearest neighbors, with most of whom I’ve shared the gospel, and seven of eight have come to something related to our church (a small group or worship service), or I’ve shared Christ in their home. I have baptized four of them.

Second, I lead a small group every Sunday night in my neighborhood to reach my neighbors and my community. We study The Gospel Project, live in community, and engage in mission together.

Third, I planted a church and still serve there in a volunteer capacity as lead pastor to reach our community for Christ, serve the hurting, and plant more churches.

We just launched our second campus in a socioeconomically depressed area about twelve miles from our first location.

ERLC Again Opposes Biden’s Action To Protect Abortion

By

Tom Strode

-

July 11, 2022

hight_court_ruling — Abortion-rights and anti-abortion demonstrators gather outside of the Supreme Court in Washington, Friday, June 24, 2022. The Supreme Court has ended constitutional protections for abortion that had been in place nearly 50 years, a decision by its conservative majority to overturn the court's landmark abortion cases. Abortion, guns and religion _ a major change in the law in any one of these areas would have made for a fateful Supreme Court term. In its first full term together, the court's conservative majority ruled in all three and issued other significant decisions limiting the government's regulatory powers. (AP Photo/Gemunu Amarasinghe, File)

WASHINGTON (BP) – President Biden took further action Friday in his administration’s ongoing effort to offset the U.S. Supreme Court’s overturning of the Roe v. Wade decision, and Southern Baptist and other pro-life advocates again declared their opposition.

Biden signed an executive order Friday (July 8) intended to protect access to abortion and reproductive healthcare. The action occurred two weeks after the justices reversed the 1973 ruling that legalized abortion throughout the country. The court’s 5-4 opinion June 24 in Dobbs v. Mississippi Women’s Health Organization returned abortion policy to the states, where it had been before the watershed Roe decision.

The executive order includes directives calling for expanded safeguards for access to drugs that end the lives of preborn children, the establishment of an interagency task force to coordinate protections for abortion access and the assembling of volunteer lawyers to represent women and abortion providers.

Southern Baptist public policy specialist Hannah Daniel told Baptist Press in written comments, “Rather than taking this opportunity to begin building a true culture of life that serves and cares for mothers and their children, President Biden and his administration insist on clinging to a past that saw women preyed upon and the lives of vulnerable children snuffed out.”

The Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission (ERLC) – which had objected to earlier Biden administration initiatives to protect abortion rights after Roe’s fall – will continue to advocate in opposition to “these actions and will work until a culture of life prevails in our nation,” said Daniel, the entity’s policy manager.

“Government is instituted to protect our rights, including the right to life, and that is the path so many states are pursuing with their laws defending preborn lives,” she said. “Instead of attempting to thwart these policies, they should be replicated in every state and at the federal level.”

About half of the 50 states have enacted or are soon expected to enact abortion bans throughout pregnancy or at some stage of pregnancy. Already, 17 state prohibitions are in effect after Roe’s reversal, although judges have blocked enforcement of four of the bans for the time being, the ERLC reported in an article published Friday at its website.

Marjorie Dannenfelser, president of Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America, charged Biden “has once again caved to the extreme abortion lobby, determined to put the full weight of the federal government behind promoting abortion. Long gone is the Democratic Party of ‘safe, legal, and rare.’”

Biden, who had decried the Supreme Court’s reversal of Roe as “outrageous,” repeated on Friday the criticism he has offered on multiple occasions. He denied the decision was “driven by the Constitution” or “driven by history.”

Since June 24, the president has called for Congress to codify Roe into law through an exception to the Senate’s filibuster rule, which requires 60 votes to end debate and take floor action on legislation but is improbable with the chamber’s current makeup. He also has urged voters to elect enough senators to establish expansive abortion rights in federal law.

Senate Moves To Include Women in Military Draft; Southern Baptist Opposition Long Established

By

Scott Barkley

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July 11, 2022

NASHVILLE (BP) – A renewed effort to include women in the military draft is making its way through the Senate with conservatives voicing their opposition.

When a provision to the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) was introduced in June 2016 for women to become eligible for the draft, Southern Baptists responded at that year’s annual meeting in St. Louis by adopting a resolution opposing the step. Messengers again stated their opposition at the 2019 gathering with a resolution on expanding the Selective Service to include women.

The provision in the 2016 NDAA was eventually stripped out at the last moment in favor of a commission to study the future of the draft. It appeared the section would pass last year, but was once again dropped after closed-door negotiations.

The current version once again includes an amendment that requires the registration of women for Selective Service.

Each year the NDAA determines military policy as well as the manner in which the military’s budget will be spent. It is created by the Senate Armed Services Committee and House Armed Services Committee. Last month the Senate committee voted 20-6 to require women to register. A following version of the NDAA advanced by the House did not contain the provision.

Interim Ethics & Religious Liberty President Brent Leatherwood told Baptist Press today that the ERLC’s position on the subject hasn’t changed since issuing a white paper about it last year.

The document acknowledges that men and women are “equal in value” but “distinct [in] physical and psychological differences.”

“Women placed in combat would be a risk to themselves, to the men around them, and consequently, to our nation,” it said. “Men are psychologically prepared to protect, while women desire to nurture. Asking a woman to take the place of a man in protecting a nation is not only dangerous, but dishonors the role of men and women.”

All combat jobs were opened to women in 2015.

“Southern Baptists wish to express deepest gratitude to those courageous men and women who have served, as noted in the 2016 SBC resolution,” the ERLC stated. “We are grateful for all women who have chosen to serve their country in the military, but make the distinction that forced service is both dishonorable and unbiblical.”

Versions of military conscription have existed in America dating back to the Revolutionary War. Induction to fill military vacancies in both peacetime and conflict ended in 1973, but the Selective Service System remained in a “standby” role in case of national emergency.

Registration was suspended altogether from 1976-1980 in an era of “deep standby.” However, President Jimmy Carter issued Proclamation 4771 in July 1980 shortly after the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan, resulting in mass registrations that month as well as in January 1981.

This article originally appeared at Baptist Press.

Why Everyone Needs Compassion

By

Scott Sauls

-

July 11, 2022

Why Everyone Needs Compassion

If the Bible was a party, Ecclesiastes would be the party pooper.

The author of this unique book also comes from a unique situation. He is very powerful and very rich. Concerning power, he is a beloved king with many servants, and has more wives and concubines than he can count. When he tells them to leap, they ask, “How high?” When he summons them into his office or dining area or bedroom, they arrive not a moment too early and not a moment too late. Concerning riches, this man doesn’t just have a house, but many houses. Very large houses. He doesn’t just have a garden, but many gardens. Very lovely, well-tended gardens. He doesn’t just have pools, but many pools. And wardrobes. And luxury dining. And the best furniture. He also has a supreme intellect. And fame. And unparalleled success in all that he does. In a word, he has it all.

There is one more thing that the author of Ecclesiastes has in abundance: Misery. Somehow, and possibly to our surprise, he finds it nearly impossible to enjoy his many “blessings.” Here are just a few examples of the anguish he expresses:

Concerning work and success:
“What does man gain by all the toil at which he toils under the sun? … All things are full of weariness … I turned about and gave my heart up to despair over all the toil of my labors … for apart from [God] who can eat or who can have enjoyment? … I have seen slaves on horses, and princes walking on the ground like slaves.”[1]

Concerning knowledge and wisdom:
“He who increases knowledge increases sorrow.”[2]

Concerning possessions and pleasure:
“I made great works. I built houses and planted vineyards for myself … I had also great possessions … I got singers, both men and women, and many concubines … I kept my heart from no pleasure … and behold, all was vanity and a striving after wind.”[3]

Concerning money:
“[My] eyes are never satisfied with riches … He who loves money will not be satisfied with money … a man to whom God gives wealth, possessions, and honor, so that he lacks nothing of all that he desires, yet God does not give him power to enjoy them.”[4]

Concerning everything:
“All is vanity.”[5]

If this powerful, wealthy, famous king were a modern celebrity and was caught saying these sorts of things, one imagines that we might take to social media and criticize him for feeling miserable. “Poor little rich guy having a pity party,” we might say to ourselves and each other. “Must be hard living in all those mansions, having all that sex, hosting all those parties, eating all those fine meats, counting all that cash. Must be rough with all those people waiting on you hand and foot. Such a hard life. How do you do it?”

It is worth repeating. The green grass of other people’s lives lies to us.

A few years ago, I was invited to speak at a conference which took place at a luxury resort on the coast of California. The resort was nestled in the midst of one of the world’s wealthiest neighborhoods, with curated opulence and natural beauty everywhere. During a break, my wife and I decided to go for a walk down the coast, where we were able to view scores of multi-million-dollar mansions up-close. At one point, I turned to her and said, “Must be tough for these people to have to live like this.” In her characteristic gentleness and wisdom, she responded, “Yes, you’re right, Scott. It is tough for these people. Remember how you tell our congregation all the time that every person we meet is fighting a hard, hidden battle? That also includes people living in opulent mansions on the California coast, does it not?”

In an essay about celebrity life and culture, one New York journalist observed:

“I pity celebrities. No, I do. The minute a person becomes a celebrity is the same minute he/she becomes a monster … now they have become supreme beings and their wrath is awful. It’s not what they had in mind. When God wants to play a really rotten practical joke on you, he grants you your deepest wish and then giggles merrily when you suddenly realize you want to kill yourself … [These celebrities] wanted fame. They worked, they pushed … The night each of them became famous they wanted to shriek with relief. Finally! Now they were adored! Invincible! Magic! … The morning after the night each of them became famous they wanted to take an overdose of barbiturates. All their fantasies had been realized, yet the reality was still the same. If they were miserable before, they were twice as miserable now … The disillusionment turned them howling and insufferable.”[6]

The journalist’s thesis is supported by a long list of people who ascended to fame, fortune, and all the things that go with it, but whose lives ended prematurely and tragically as a direct result of their misery. As Ann Voskamp has eloquently written, no human soul was made to bear the weight of fame and celebrity except the soul of Jesus. Only he has the capacity and character to be on a pedestal and not be tarnished by it. Only he belongs on a pedestal, because the chief end of all creation is to glorify and enjoy him forever.[7] We, on the other hand, were made to worship and not be worshiped, to stand in awe not be the objects of awe, to bow and not be bowed unto.

Consider these names: Novelist Ernest Hemingway. Fashion designer Alexander McQueen. Painter Mark Rothko. Nirvana front man Curt Cobain. Each one, at the peak of his fame and fortune, committed suicide. Consider also the popular singers Amy Winehouse, Janis Joplin, Jim Morrison and the famous actor Heath Ledger. Each one, also at the peak of fame and fortune, died from a drug overdose. Likewise, Elvis Pressley, dubbed by many as “the king of rock and roll,” died of what was believed to be a barbiturate-induced heart attack.

Several years ago, I heard the famous singer, Mariah Carey, give an unexpected answer to a question that was asked of her at the peak of her career. At the time, she was reported to have scored more number one hits than anyone in the history of music except Elvis and the Beatles. When asked what remained for her to achieve, what goals she had not reached, she replied with a one-word answer: “Happiness.”

Indeed, every person you meet—or don’t meet—is fighting a hard, hidden battle.

This includes those who are poor and destitute. It includes those who are middle class, making it from paycheck to paycheck. And, lest we forget, it includes those who are rich and famous and have achieved all of their wildest dreams and more. As it has been said, “People may spend their whole lives climbing the ladder of success only to find, once they reach the top, that the ladder is leaning against the wrong wall.”[8]

Compassion anyone?

This article originally appeared here.

4 Rules for Christian Fight Club

By

Derek Rishmawy

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July 11, 2022

christian fight club — Adobestock #242267677

If you’ve ever had an “intensely engaged” discussion with a friend in class, or on a Facebook thread, blog or Twitter-battle, you’ve engaged in polemics. Now, you needn’t worry that this is a particularly un-Christian activity. A friend of mine recently pointed out that Christians have always argued and always will—for good reason. Thinking through history, some of the greats in the church have been polemicists: Athanasius, Augustine, Aquinas, Luther, Calvin and many others were willing to throw down over truth. They were great precisely because they could argue, not despite it. Call it the rules of Christian fight club.

That said, it’s wise to think through our basic attitudes and approaches to polemics as a people, especially within the body. We should regularly ask ourselves “How am I going about this discussion? Is my attitude consistent with Christian virtue? Are my words in conformity with Jesus’ command to love neighbor as self?”

Here are three qualities or attitudes that should define our approach to whatever discussion we engage in, and one that shouldn’t.

4 Rules for Christian Fight Club

1. Playful.

One quality in short supply in our polemics today is playfulness, a certain amount of mirth and good humor. It’s that kind of light-hearted reasonableness that G.K. Chesterton embodies in his works like Orthodoxy and Heretics.

To say that his arguments are playful is not to admit they aren’t “serious,” dealing with significant issues. No, it is to recognize they are clearly not driven by fear or pride, but rather a humble self-forgetfulness and joy deeply rooted in the Gospel. His ability to sport and laugh at, and with, his interlocutors managed to communicate both disagreement with and real fondness for them.

This is not an excuse for being flippant, disrespectful or condescending.

When your heart is filled with confidence in God, it allows you to speak with humor and grace, knowing that whatever the outcome of the argument, you’re securely held in the arms of your Father because of the Son.

One of the benefits of engaging your intellectual “opponents” with this attitude is that it is attractive. So often, people are used to dealing with Christians arguing out of their insecurities or pride which drives them to be snippy, harsh, humorless and retaliatory. Nobody wants to listen to someone like that, or end up believing whatever they’re arguing for.

The Gospel should lead to a confident good-naturedness that, on the one hand, respects the other person, and at the same time, allows you to take yourself less seriously.

Christian fight club rule #2 is on the next page.

Glenn Packiam: Why Christians Avoid the Phrase Supernatural God

By

Glenn Packiam

-

July 10, 2022

Christians believe in a Triune God who created the cosmos, and who stands in some way outside of it, or beyond it. But is that a supernatural God? But to call God “holy” is to acknowledge that God is completely “other” than anything else. He is not simply separated from created things by degree but in kind. The Creator is not on the same spectrum as the creation; He is on His own spectrum. This is all summed up in the Hebrew and Christian confession that God is “holy.”

Supernatural God or Holy God?

But to confess this “otherness” of God is not to speak of a supernatural God. Webster’s defines the supernatural in two ways: “of or relating to an order of existence beyond the visible observable universe; especially of or relating to God or a god, demigod, spirit or devil”; or, “as departing from what is usual or normal especially so as to appear to transcend the laws of nature, or attributed to an invisible agent (as a ghost or spirit).” So, yes, in one sense God is supernatural; His existence is “beyond the visible order of the observable universe.” But the language of “natural” and “supernatural” leans on a framework which divides the “natural” world from the “supernatural” world, a view which emerged during the Enlightenment, particularly when Sir Isaac Newton outlined his mathematical principles of natural philosophy out of the conviction that there is a deep created order to the world, and to name these laws was to glorify God.

Ironically, these principles were used to effectively relegate God “upstairs” and humans “downstairs.” Deism, the formal name for this view, accepted that the order in creation owed its origins to a creator, but that like any good invention, it did not require its inventor to keep running. Deism eventually led to post-Enlightenment rationalism, which rejected miracles both in Scripture and in contemporary life. After all, why would a God make rules only to suspend them whenever He liked? Why set the world up like a great clock only to move the hands at a whim? And if interventions were needed to correct the mechanism, how good was its design to begin with? (Voltaire, Spinoza and Hume are examples of a few philosophers whose skepticism led to a ‘de-miraclizing’ of the New Testament.) In one sense, it was Newton’s faith-driven science that led to the rejection of faith in the West.

What we are left with now are the remnants of warring worldviews—one which claims the belief in a supernatural, and one which argues against it on the basis of scientific discovery. It seems we are at an impasse. But I suggest it’s time to re-examine the very framework which divides reality in “natural“ and a “supernatural“ one.

Listen to how the Hebrew poets and prophets talked about the relationship between God and His world:

The earth is the Lord’s and the fullness thereof, the world and those who dwell therein, for he has founded it upon the seas and established it upon the rivers. (Psalm 24:1-2)

Be exalted, O God, above the heavens! Let your glory be over all the earth! (Psalm 57:5)

And one called to another and said: “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory!” (Isaiah 6:3)

God is holy AND His glory fills the earth! The Enlightenment taught us to see the world (and the phenomena in it) as either natural or supernatural. The Hebrews did not see a supernatural God; they saw God as above and beyond His creation, and yet somehow also within it.

As it turns out, not only is this view of the world better theologically, it actually coheres with science, but a more up-to-date science. My supervisor, David Wilkinson, is a brilliant and godly man who earned a double PhD in Astrophysics and Systematic Theology. A CT article captures his thoughts on miracles and science from his book on prayer:

Quantum theory tells us that the small-scale structure of the world is, in the words of Christian physicist John Polkinghorne, “radically random”: “By that he means it is unpredictable and nothing like a mechanical clock,” says Wilkinson. “It is a world that is unpicturable, uncertain and in which the cause of events cannot be fully specified.”

So, suggests Wilkinson, there’s plenty of room for God to act, because the system isn’t closed at all. He can “push” electrons here and there and alter the course of events in the world without breaking any of the laws of nature. The problem is that too many theologians simply don’t know enough about physics and are stuck with out-of-date science. Quantum theory doesn’t answer all our questions, Wilkinson says cautiously, but it “may be one dimension of how God works in the world.”

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1. Think through the purpose and goals.

2. Ask the person in your church who has experience making videos to do this project.

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For more on seeker small groups Read Page 2>>

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4 Rules for Christian Fight Club

1. Playful.

Christian fight club rule #2 is on the next page.

Supernatural God or Holy God?

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