R. Albert Mohler Jr.'s Blog, page 196

Friday, March 15, 2019

The new marijuana business is coming for you: How a recent flood of articles on the rise of cannabis indicates a turning point in the growing marketFortune (Clifton Leaf) — The Power of a Joint VentureFortune (Jen Wieczner) — The Marijuana Billionaire Who Doesn’t Smoke WeedNew York Times (Laura M. Holson) — Martha Stewart Will Advise Cannabis Grower on Products for Humans and PetsUSA Today (Charisse Jones) — Cannabis may be coming to a mall near you: Rolling papers and CBD products go upscaleNew York Times (Alyson Krueger) — Seven Buds for Seven BrothersWall Street Journal (Vipal Monga and Jennifer Maloney) — Cannabis Drinks Confront a Serious Buzz Kill – They Taste TerribleNew York Times (Vivian Wang and Jeffrey C. Mays) — Black Lawmakers to Block Legalized Marijuana in N.Y. if Their Communities Don’t BenefitUSA Today (Jayne O’Donnell, Ken Alltucker, and Shari Rudavsky) — Car crashes, psychosis, suicide: Is the drive to legalize marijuana ignoring major risks?

A Mob Boss and an American Inventor: How the teenage years of Carmine Persico and Jerry Merryman pointed to the men they would becomeNew York Times (Selwyn Raab) — Carmine Persico, Colombo Crime Family Boss, Is Dead at 85New York Times (Cade Metz) — Jerry Merryman, Co-Inventor of the Pocket Calculator, Dies at 86Los Angeles Times (Associated Press) — Jerry Merryman, who helped invent the handheld calculator, dies at 86

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Thursday, March 14, 2019

Academic cheating in the news, but this time it’s by the parents, not the students: How human sinfulness inevitably shows itself in all institutionsNew York Times (Jennifer Medina, Katie Benner, Kate Taylor) — Actresses, Business Leaders, and Other Wealthy Parents Charged in U.S. College Entry FraudWall Street Journal (Melissa Korn, Jennifer Levitz, and Erin Ailworth) — Federal Prosecutors Charge Dozens in College Admissions Cheating SchemeNew York Times (Michael Powell) — For the Wealthy, Sports Opened a Back Door to Elite CollegesNew York Times (Frank Bruni) — Bribes to Get Into Yale and Stanford? What Else Is New?

‘We must change almost everything in our current societies’: 16-year-old Swedish girl explodes onto world stage as climate change advocateNew York Times (Editorial Board) — Grown-Ups Get a Scolding on ClimateFinancial Times (Leslie Hook) — Greta Thunberg: ‘All my life I’ve been the invisible girl’

The vantage point of adolescent advocates of social issues: Why what is happening right now is often what youth consider to be the most critical event in historyWall Street Journal (Paul H. Tice) — On Climate Change, the Kids Are All Wrong

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Wednesday, March 13, 2019

Coming to a school near you? The reality of 'comprehensive sex education'New York Times (Dan Levin) — As Colorado Moves to Bar Abstinence-Only Sex Education, Teenagers Take the LeadThe Denver Post (Anna Staver) — Consent at core of Colorado’s proposed sex education changesThe Gazette (Marianne Goodland) — Bill would ban abstinence-only sex education in Colorado schools

Aiming to go around parents: The great lie presented as a parental notification and 'opt out' in many sex education programsThe Denver Post (Patrick Neville) — Proposed Colorado sex education bill is misleading the publicColorado General Assembly — HB19-1032: Comprehensive Human Sexuality Education

Utah legalizes fornication: How a recent bill reveals that every law seeks to govern moralityThe Hill (Morgan Gstalter) — Utah legislature passes bill legalizing sex outside of marriage

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Tuesday, March 12, 2019

Virtue signaling in the marketplace: Why businesses try to keep up with the changing opinions of the sexual revolutionHarvard Business Review (Jessica Shortall) — Why Many Businesses Are Becoming More Vocal In Support Of LGBT Rights

What do we do with our minds? Why many secular Americans are turning to Buddhist mindfulnessThe Atlantic (Olga Khazan) — Why So Many Americans Are Turning to Buddhism

Mindful mayonnaise and yoga pants? The danger of critiquing the big business of the mindfulness cultureFinancial Times (Pilita Clark) — Mindfulness at work is not quite what it’s cracked up to be

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The Resistance Forms: A Timely Reminder of What is at Stake in Church Struggles over Sexuality

The news out of the special General Conference of the United Methodist Church (UMC) made history. At last, a major mainline Protestant denomination had, after much maneuvering, turned back an effort to abandon its historic biblical affirmation of biblical sexuality and marriage. The event was an earthquake of sorts, sending shock waves around the world. And yet, even as there was cause for the faithful to be relieved by the vote, the real battle still lies ahead.

The UMC, formed in 1968, is the largest of the mainline Protestant denominations. The church has been generally quite liberal in theology and social statements. Though there have always been evangelical believers and pastors committed to biblical orthodoxy within the denomination, the elites in control of the church’s bureaucracy have grown even more liberal over time.

The vote to uphold the UMC’s Book of Discipline is explained by sustained efforts undertaken by conservatives and by the growth of the denomination outside the United States, particularly in Africa. Thanks to the growth of the UMC’s membership in the global South, a slim plurality of the delegates operated from a conservative and evangelical worldview. The UMC churches from Africa and Southeast Asia have no plans to capitulate on the questions regarding same-sex marriage, LGBTQ normalization, etc.

I covered the news out of the General Conference extensively (See my article, “Church History Made Before Our Eyes: United Methodists Make History, Affirm Biblical Standards of Sexuality.”) But the aftermath of the meeting requires further attention.

Elizabeth Dias of The New York Times reported, “Across the country, progressive United Methodists are reeling from Tuesday night’s vote. As their conservative brethren celebrate churches like Foundry are faced with difficult decisions.” (Foundry refers to Foundry Methodist Church in Washington, DC, which openly celebrates the LGBTQ agenda.)

Another article by Ian Lovett from The Wall Street Journal reported, “While some progressive congregations say they are considering leaving the United Methodist Church, others are preparing something of a rebellion.”

A resistance has formed within the ranks of the UMC. The liberals have made it clear: they will no slip quietly into the night; they will not surrender their ground; they will press forward with their agenda.

The two articles by Dias and Lovett highlight the divide among UMC churches. It turns out that the United Methodist Church is not as united as you might think. The liberal and moral revolutionaries within the UMC have decided to continue to press the fight and attempt to enact sweeping moral changes to the UMC’s dogma.

Since the formation of the UMC in 1968, a disequilibrium has always existed between theological conservatives and theological liberals. The disagreement between these two groups has always caused friction in this loose conglomeration of divergent theological presuppositions. Some have attempted to find reconciliation between the conservatives and the liberals—even as recent as last week where a proposed plan called the One Church Plan was overwhelmingly defeated by the General Conference.

The One Church Plan would have granted autonomy to local conferences and congregations. This plan would allow local churches to ordain LGBTQ pastors and bishops, and allow local conferences to adopt their own statements regarding sexual ethics. This middle way, in theory, would have kept the UMC united. The delegates at the General Conference, however, knew that unity could not be secured through theological capitulation on such serious and grave matters as marriage and biblical sexuality.

Moreover, the cracks in the unity of the UMC that were present even in its founding were observed as early as 1980 when professors at the Duke Divinity School argued that the UMC possessed no “singular” identity but remained fractured into at least seven different churches—those fissures were largely influenced by geographical location. Thus, the tensions of last week’s General Conference marked the eruption of almost 50 years of theological disagreement and divisiveness.

Lyle Schaller, the late scholar of United Methodism, addressed the divergence between conservatives and liberals, arguing, “One side is convinced the United Methodist Church has cancer. The other disagrees and rejects the calls for surgery… It’s hard to find a safe, happy compromise when the issue is a cancer diagnosis.”

The conservatives have tried to convince the liberals that a deadly tumor threatens the UMC. The liberals, however, reject the diagnosis and resist any form of treatment. No middle ground can be won when the different factions disagree on such a fundamental level.

Indeed, Rob Renfroe and Walter Fenton, two United Methodists, wrote a book in anticipation of the General Conference, titled: Are We Really Better Together? They conclude, “It is our contention we are not and not simply because we have different views regarding sexuality and marriage. Our differences go deeper to some of the foundational questions of what it means to be the church. Is Jesus Christ the only way to God? Is his death on the cross the only means for salvation? Are the Scriptures fully inspired and authoritative for revealing God’s will and binding on how we should live? We believe the answer to these questions is a ‘Yes,’ while others in the church would answer differently. The painful truth is that we cannot agree.”

Renfroe and Fenton point to the real issue faced by the UMC. The issue is not merely a disagreement on sexuality but on fundamental teachings of the Christian faith. A doctrinally confused church faces a crisis over sexual morality when it lost previous battles—battles on the doctrine of God, on soteriology, on the inerrancy of Scripture, on the affect of Christ’s atonement.

Churches who capitulate to the sexual revolutionaries have already surrendered the essential pillars of the Christian faith. Either the Bible is God’s Word, or it is not. Either the gospel is the only hope for salvation, or it is not. The debate over the future of the UMC is centered on something far deeper than sexual ethics—it was a question over faithfulness to God and to the Scriptures. It was a question to obey or disobey. On this, there could be, nor will there ever be, a middle ground.

Indeed, Adam Hamilton, the pastor of the largest UMC in the United States, suggested that all the texts in the Bible, including the texts about human sexuality, must be sorted into three different buckets. The first bucket contains verses that never amounted to “the expression of God’s will.” The second bucket encompasses texts that, at one time, denoted the expressed will of God, but no longer. The last bucket holds texts that “are true expressions of God’s will and always will be.”

Hamilton has repeatedly denied the inerrancy of the Word of God. But he goes even further and actually argues that human beings are to decide which biblical texts are—or ever have been— God’s Word. The audacity of applying human reason to jettison verses as never expressing the will of God is lunacy. Furthermore, some elite must decide which verses go in which bucket. You can guess which texts get thrown into the first bucket quickly. Confusion begets confusion. Capitulation on first things sows capitulation over all things. When a church jettisons the fundamental doctrines of the faith, it will allow for any cultural anomaly to enter through its doors, all in the name of relevance.

The church must always endeavor to live as a people of the book–as Scriptural people devoted to zealous study of God’s Word. The Bible is the norming norm that cannot be normed. Christians must affirm biblical authority and always remember that when you surrender the authority of Scripture, you threaten the very existence of your church. Where you find a church, you find a community committed to the Bible. Take that away, and the walls will crumble.

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Monday, March 11, 2019

What happens in California doesn’t stay in California: If you want to see a glimpse into America’s political future, look to the West CoastLos Angeles Times (Mark Z. Barabak) — In Kamala Harris, a sequel to Ronald Reagan?Wall Street Journal (Charles R. Kesler) — California Has Become the Far Left Coast

The vast worldview divide in America on display: Why it’s more difficult to pass actual legislation than support general policy ideasNew York Times (Tim Wu) — The Oppression of the Supermajority

Controversy over a Catholic school’s recent decision reveals much about religious liberty and the precursor of the same-sex revolutionNew York Times (Christine Hauser) — Catholic School in Kansas Faces a Revolt for Rejecting a Same-Sex Couple’s Child

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Friday, March 8, 2019

Why the push for confidential medical advice for adolescents is actually a bigger deal than the Wall Street Journal suggestsWall Street Journal (Brianna Abbott) — For Teens, a Push for Confidential Medical Advice

The therapy generation: What the trend of millennials seeking out therapeutic help communicates about a generation starving for meaningful communityWall Street Journal (Peggy Drexler) — Millennials Are the Therapy Generation

The drug problem of American children: Why no pill can ever fully treat the deepest issues of the human heartWall Street Journal (Erica Komisar) — We’re Overmedicating Our Children

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Thursday, March 7, 2019

The sexual revolution chooses to live to fight another day: Why Colorado dropping a lawsuit against Masterpiece Cakeshop isn’t an end to the war on religious libertyDenver Post (Elise Schmelzer) — Masterpiece Cakeshop, state of Colorado agree to mutual ceasefire over harassment, discrimination claims

Heartwarming stories of babies successfully operated on and returned to womb are rare exceptions in the culture of deathIndependent (Toyin Owoseje) — Baby operated on outside of womb for ground-breaking operation

When clear Scriptural teaching is nullified to ordain women in ministry, consistency indicates it inevitably must be nullified for LGBT inclusivity as well.Anglican Communion News Service — Archbishop of Canterbury celebrates 25 years of women’s ordination in Church of England

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Wednesday, March 6, 2019

Documentary dethrones the King of Pop: How the secular worldview struggles to respond to the art of fallen artistsNew York Times (Wesley Morris) — Michael Jackson Cast a Spell. ‘Leaving Neverland’ Breaks It.New York Times (Joe Coscarelli) — Michael Jackson Fans Are Tenacious: ‘Leaving Neverland’ Has Them Poised for BattleLos Angeles Times (Mikael Wood) — How Should We Hear Michael Jackson’s Music after ‘Leaving Neverland’?USA Today (Maeve McDermott) — ‘Leaving Neverland’: Corey Feldman, Jermaine Jackson react to Michael Jackson documentary

Pro-abortion movement reacts predictably to new restrictions on Planned Parenthood, revealing the political power of the abortion industryLos Angeles Times (Patrick McGreevy) — California Sues Trump Administration Over Rules Restricting Abortion AccessNew York Times (Jose A. Del Real and Robert Pear) — California Sues Trump Administration to Block Restrictions to Family Planning Program

Does shame still exist? How the reality of shame and guilt points to the gospel of Jesus ChristAxios (David Nather and Scott Rosenberg) — The End of Shame

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Tuesday, March 5, 2019

In the wake of last week’s vote to affirm biblical sexuality, theologically-liberal United Methodists are deciding their next move: stay or go?New York Times (Elizabeth Dias) — ‘We Are Not Going Anywhere’: Progressive Methodists Vow to Fight Ban on Gay ClergyWall Street Journal (Ian Lovett) — Rift Within Methodist Church Grows in Wake of Vote on Gay MarriageGet Religion (Terry Mattingly) — Next big news story: After 40 years of war, is United Methodist establishment ready to bargain?

Parties for the dead? What new alternatives to the Christian funeral reveal about our increasingly secular societyWall Street Journal (Clare Ansberry) — The Free-Form Funeral

Former VP Joe Biden learns that in an age of heightened political division even describing a political opponent as ‘decent’ is now unacceptableWashington Post (Eugene Scott) — After criticism from the LGBT community, Joe Biden walked back his praise of Mike Pence

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