The First Amendment Defense Act is not the bulwark its name suggests but the latest salvo in the ongoing attempt to redefine religious freedom as religious privilege. It does nothing to defend the First Amendment; in fact, it violates it.
Chronological snobbery refers to the notion that all ideas from previous eras are inferior because they are old and that modern ideas are superior because they are new. And, frankly, I don’t know anyone who actually believes this. I certainly don’t. After all, I’m a Christian, which means I have built my life around the ideas of a first century Rabbi.
As pastors and leaders, a good part of what we teach others should come straight from Scripture. We look to biblical models and mandates to be the launching point to teach those in our churches how to live well as followers of Jesus. Unfortunately, this isn’t enough. If our lives don’t reflect what we teach and the calls to action we offer, then our ability to lead well is severed from the start. Really, it’s a variation of the old adage we teach our children: “Do as I say, not as I do.” Do as I do and as I say.
It is hard to imagine, but try slowly dismantling your resume. What personal achievements have some importance in your life? Include health, education, weight, fitness, general attractiveness and unique abilities. If you were to boast, what might you boast about? Now, toss these out one at a time. Do some hurt more than others? What is left when the achievements are gone?
Comfort-seeking is our default mode in a consumerist society, so we often find ourselves in “comfortable Christianity” without even knowing it. What are some indicators that our Christianity has become too cozy, more like a pleasant bottle of port than the uncomfortable, sharpening faith the New Testament envisions? Here are eight signs that your Christianity might be too comfortable:
Much has been said and written to help today’s churches become more missional. Organizations, parachurch communities, and conferences abound in trying to move the Church in this direction. This emphasis is certainly justified in light of how many Evangelical churches are not missional and are either in a state of plateau or decline. But does being missional mean that a church cannot also be attractional?
Like many Americans, we are grieved by recent events in Charlottesville. The white supremacist rally there showed that overt racism is alive and well in America, and that it can turn violent and murderous. As Christian scholars of American history, politics, and law, we condemn white supremacy and encourage frank dialogue about racism today.
Today, about 300 people fill the seats each Sunday at the last church Martin Luther King Jr. visited before his death. Congregants of Downtown Church look at stained-glass windows original to the 1892 construction. They hear messages from their black and white pastors. They reach out to the neighborhoods they straddle—the revitalizing city to the north and the historically black, under resourced community to the south.
“How have you personally dealt with intellectual doubts about the faith?” Jason Cook—TGC editor and pastor of preaching at Fellowship Memphis—poses this question to Russ Ramsey, pastor and author of Struck: One Christian’s Reflections on Encountering Death (IVP, 2017), and Greg Thornbury, president of The King’s College in New York City and author of Why Should the Devil Have All the Good Music? (Convergent, 2018).
