Denison Forum

On Monday, spurred by the Silicon Valley Bank collapse, President Biden addressed the nation in the wake of the ongoing banking crises to reassure Americans that we “can have confidence that the banking system is safe. Your deposits will be there when you need them.” Unfortunately, the stock market disagreed.

Trading on more than a dozen small to mid-sized banks was forced to halt after prices continued to free fall. However, the crisis seems fueled less by the fears of an impending bank run depleting available cash—emergency measures taken by the government over the weekend appear to have largely staved off that fear—than by concerns that what happened at Silicon Valley Bank last Thursday is a sign that the Fed’s attempts to control inflation through interest rate hikes “may be cracking the banking system.”

A closer look at what went wrong last week shows that such fears are not entirely unfounded.

Do you believe that every person you know who does not know Christ is “condemned already” and will spend eternity in hell unless they turn to him as their Savior and Lord (Revelation 20:15)? Believing that they need to believe is not enough: Are you praying for lost people by name? Are you seeking ways to share the good news of God’s love with them?

Here’s the bottom line: Our true legacy is determined not by what people think of us, but by what they think of Jesus.

You are undoubtedly familiar with Pride Month, described as “a month, typically in June, dedicated to celebration and commemoration of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) pride.” Now school officials in Austin, Texas, are preparing for “Pride Week” to be held later this month. “Pronoun buttons,” rainbow flags, LGBTQ stickers, and other items will be distributed to students and staff. The event is timed to coincide with National LGBTQ Health Awareness Week.

I was unaware of either “week,” so I wondered what other LGBTQ “Pride” events are held these days. It turns out the International LGBTQ+ Travel Association (IGLTA) website lists more than one hundred and fifty different such events.

Why so many? IGLTA explains: “The LGBTQ+ rights movement has made tremendous strides over the past few decades and much of the progress in visibility is thanks in part to gay pride parades and marches that have taken place in cities around the world.”

Tomorrow we’ll continue examining the practical difference religion makes in our secularized society. For today, let’s close with a fact Bradley Tusk’s soup kitchen ministry illustrates: the best argument for the relevance of Christianity to our world is for Christians to be relevant to their part of it.

Here’s how: “Let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God” (Hebrews 12:1-2).

It is conventional wisdom in our secularized culture that biblical morality is not just outdated and irrelevant but dangerous to modern society. Today’s discussion proves that the opposite is the case: it is secular morality that is dangerous to society.

Tennessee has become the first state to explicitly ban drag shows in public places. Gov. Bill Lee signed the provision into law prohibiting “adult cabaret performances” that include “male or female impersonators” in areas where minors could watch. Similar laws have been introduced in at least fourteen other states.

Why, then, is abortion so often called “lifesaving” care? Because “truth” has been weaponized in our culture as a means to predetermined social ends.

People tend to believe what they want to believe. If you are a secularist looking for ways to defend your secularism, you will find secular ways to explain and minimize the relevance of religion to society. If you are a Christian looking for ways to defend your faith, you will find biblical ways to explain and maximize the relevance of religion to society. One way forward is, therefore, to help secular people want to believe what Christians believe. For that to happen, they must first want what we have.

The question is not whether Christians should be allowed to “impose” their moral beliefs on others, but the most moral means by which they—and everyone else—should do so. Here we find secular and biblical answers that align.

The US Energy Department (USED) has concluded that the COVID-19 pandemic origin was most likely a laboratory leak.

According to the Wall Street Journal, this conclusion “is the result of new intelligence and is significant because the agency has considerable scientific expertise and oversees a network of US national laboratories, some of which conduct advanced biological research.” However, people who have read the classified report add that the USED made its judgment with “low confidence” (which means that it is based on highly incomplete evidence).