Denison Forum

Western culture has clearly decided that any and all LGBTQ activity between consensual adults is to be tolerated and even affirmed. If secular media can quote religious leaders in ways that appear to support this agenda, many will do so. If they can construct their reporting in a way that makes the leader’s statement even more supportive of this agenda, some will apparently do this as well. Numerous other outlets have reported on the AP interview; most I have seen contain no reference whatever to the pope’s statement calling homosexuality a “sin.”

This strategy consequently makes it harder for Christians who support biblical morality to do so publicly. If the pope “supports” homosexuality, as the AP headline and 93 percent of its article suggest, who are we to disagree?

In our culture, religion is to be kept separate from public life. It is viewed as a personal hobby, nothing more. As such, it is to be given no more weight or warrant in public life than any other hobby. My purpose today is less to critique secular society for treating our faith like a hobby than it is to warn Christians that we must not follow suit.

Christians are not immune from Anaximander’s self-centric map drawing. Even though we sing, “I once was lost, but now I’m found / Was blind but now I see,” we are not yet home. There is much we do not know that we do not know about our Lord and his purpose for our lives.

However, like lost people who do not know they are lost, we can think that because we are “found,” we know all we need to know. The truth is, like a newborn baby, those who are “born again” (John 3:3) have only begun the journey before them. And when we walk our journey well, our changed lives attract the lost people we know to the One we follow.

As you and I know, the only One who can transform a sinful human heart is Jesus: “If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come” (2 Corinthians 5:17). Why, then, don’t more people learn from tragedy to turn to him?

While fiscal responsibility is important, an issue that receives far less attention in Christian circles pertains to being responsible with our time.

I encourage you to focus today on your specific calling. If you cannot complete the sentence, “My ministry is _______________,” pray and reflect until you can. Then live every day in alignment with your missional purpose, remembering that “how we spend our days is, of course, how we spend our lives” (Annie Dillard).

Today’s conversation highlights this biblical fact: Christians must not depend on the government to do our work for us.

One of Satan’s most subtle temptations is to encourage Christians to trust in Christianity rather than in Christ. In this sense, California is a case study for the evangelical church in a secularized culture.

Just as our nation urgently needed (and needs) a civil rights movement to advance equality for all Americans, so too do we need a spiritual movement to advance morality for all Americans.

After a second batch of classified documents was found in the garage at President Biden’s home in Delaware, Attorney General Merrick Garland announced yesterday that Robert Hur has been appointed to serve as a special counsel and lead the investigation into the mishandling of the documents. former President Donald Trump was quick to ask “When is the FBI going to raid the many homes of Joe Biden, perhaps even the White House?”

As Declan Garvey and Esther Eaton write for The Dispatch, “Trump has a fresh target across the aisle for finger-pointing as he downplays his own mishandling of presidential and classified documents.” And, as they go on to argue, that desire to pull oneself up by dragging others down is among the most universally damning aspects of this story.