Recently, three families—one Muslim, one Roman Catholic, and one Ukrainian Orthodox—filed a lawsuit against the Montgomery, Maryland, school district. Back in March, the district had shifted its policy, announcing that parents would no longer be notified of LGBT content and parents could not opt-out their students.
When we talk about segments of the population not having a Bible in their language, our thoughts usually gravitate toward remote villages and local dialects. However, language is about more than just the words that are spoken. Ultimately, translating the Bible is about making God’s word relatable in a way that fosters understanding and encourages people to explore a closer walk with him.
According to recent numbers released from the CDC, about 1 in 4 of today’s high school students identify as LGBTQ. This means it’s never been more important for Christian parents, teachers, pastors, and mentors to love, support, and guide teens who are wrestling through these issues. They need to know what biblical truth is about sex, identity, and relationships, and why it is loving, reasonable, and best.
I am so grateful for a brand-new resource from my friend Greg Stier, whose writing and work at Dare 2 Share ministries has made him a leader in working with students. In a recent blog post, Greg outlined four key principles to help lead teenagers to a biblical understanding of these difficult issues in a way that is loving, articulate, and bold.
It is human nature to prefer a simple explanation – even when it’s wrong – to a more complex one. As a result, it can be easy to ignore inconvenient truths when they muddy the waters of how we would prefer to see a given situation.
With the war in Ukraine, it is simpler to see Ukrainians as valiant heroes fighting in defense of their homeland and Russians as the evil invaders bent on destruction. To be sure, there is a good bit of validity to both characterizations. However, neither side is without fault in this war, and it’s vital that we don’t lose sight of the gray areas in which the truth often resides just because the world seems simpler in black and white.
It’s been almost two years since the U.S. military withdrew from Afghanistan, leaving a void of power quickly filled by the Taliban. In that time, Taliban rulers have outlawed women’s education, religious freedom, and even music. That’s why a concert violinist named Ali left his instrument behind when he fled Afghanistan in 2021. He knew the Taliban would confiscate and destroy any instruments they found, along with music shops and schools. After Ali arrived in the United States, a stranger heard his story and decided to donate his violin to the displaced musician.
This remarkable story is not only about the kindness of strangers: It also points to something deeper about what it means to be human. God created us to create, like He does. Made in His image, as the first few chapters of Genesis make plain, humans were created for the purpose of cultivating the rest of creation for the glory of God (Genesis 1:26-28).
It’s worth noting that humanity’s original sin occurred in large part because Satan offered Adam and Eve a shortcut to the knowledge and status for which they longed (Genesis 3). After all, it seems doubtful that the devil would have had the same success if he’d offered them night classes and hours of study to become like God and know good and evil. Instead, he offered them a piece of fruit with the promise that one bite was all they’d need to become like God, and they took it without much hesitation. In many ways, we continue to struggle with that same temptation today.
On June 5, 1865, Anglican priest and polymath Sabine Baring-Gould wrote the processional hymn, "Onward, Christian Soldiers." The hymn was originally written for children walking to Horbury St. Peter’s Church near Wakefield in Yorkshire, England. Far from the cultural stereotype that the hymn earned Baring-Gould— that of a militant, narrow-minded clergyman fearful of and fighting against new knowledge— he actually led an impressive life, remaining keenly inquisitive about the world God has made.
Perhaps Tim Keller’s most famous quote was his observation, “The gospel is this: We are more sinful and flawed in ourselves than we ever dared believe, yet at the very same time we are more loved and accepted in Jesus Christ than we ever dared hope.”
I invite you to embrace and proclaim the two biblical facts Dr. Keller noted.
Therapy is about as much of the American experience these days as baseball, pickup trucks, and apple pie. Professional counseling is now seen as more than just a last resort for psychological distress, but as a healthy, essential path for resolving personal issues. In 2019, nearly 20 percent of Americans received some form of mental health treatment ranging from medication to therapy. Over 40 percent of Americans have seen a counselor at some point in their lives.
Recently in the New York Times, journalist Susan Dominus asked an important question, especially given that the U.S. is in the grip of an ever-worsening mental health crisis: “Does therapy really work?”
