R. Albert Mohler Jr.'s Blog, page 283

The Briefing 04-14-16

The world is waking up to the harms of pornography, but glaringly missing is moral concernWashington Post (Gail Dines) — Is porn immoral? That doesn’t matter: It’s a public health crisis.

Hollywood opposes anti-revenge-porn bill after realizing it could implicate their filmsTime (Charlotte Alter) — How Nudity Became the New NormalWashington Post (Karen Turner) — Why Hollywood studios are taking a stand against an anti-revenge-porn bill

Prom dress controversy reveals society today is embarrassed more by modesty than immodesty Northwest Florida Daily News (Leah Johnson) — Choctaw's new approval process for prom attire sparks concern

The Briefing 04-13-16

Why can't positive reinforcement replace punishment in parenting? Children are born sinners.The Atlantic (Olga Khazan) — No Spanking, No Time-Out, No Problems

Do women face "pregnancy penalties" at work? Only if motherhood and children are devalued.NBC News (Safia Samee Ali) — 'Motherhood Penalty' Can Affect Women Who Never Even Have a Child

John Kasich says he wouldn't sign "anti-LGBT" law, asks why we can't just agree to disagreeHuffington Post (Ryan J. Reilly) — http://www.nbcnews.com/business/careers/motherhood-penalty-can-affect-women-who-never-even-have-child-n548511

The Briefing 04-12-16

Constitutionality trumps historicity: Christian mission's cross removed from LA county sealLos Angeles Times (Abby Sewell) — Christian cross has no place on L.A. County seal, judge rules

Do tax assessors get to decide what is "necessary" for religious worship and instruction? Boston Globe (Jeff Jacoby) — Houses of worship are far more than pews and prayerbooks

A Republic, if you can keep it: primaries have voters confused on nature of America's democracyNew York Times (Jeremy W. Peters) — As Campaigns Seek Delegates, Ordinary Voters Feel Sidelined

In Hollywood, the political choice is between liberal or even more liberalNew York Times (Jacob Bernstein) — Hollywood Celebrities Choose Sides in Presidential Race

Oxford theology students no longer required to study theology—Christian theology, that is.The Telegraph (Javier Espinoza) — Oxford theology students can skip Christianity lessons

The Briefing 04-11-16

Pope invites Catholics to ignore church doctrine in document rife with calculated ambiguityNew York Times (Ross Douthat) — The New Catholic TruceNew York Times (Jim Yardley and Laurie Goodstein) — Francis’ Message Calls on Church to Be InclusiveWall Street Journal (Francis X. Rocca) — Pope Francis Opens New Phase in Church’s Debate on DivorceFinancial Times (Editorial Board) — A change of Catholic tone towards the familyCrux (John L. Allen Jr.) — Pope Francis lets the world in on the Church’s best-kept secret

The Briefing 04-08-16

Gender-confused kids need the truth, not hormone treatment or sex reassignment surgeryScientific American Mind (Francine Russo) — Young and Transgender: How Best to Help Them Thrive American College of Pediatrics — Gender Ideology Harms Children

Parents reading to their children: an invaluable gift or an "unfair" advantage?Wall Street Journal (Clare Ansberry) — What You Miss After Your Child Learns to ReadNational Review (Katherine Timpf) — Professor: If You Read To Your Kids, You’re ‘Unfairly Disadvantaging’ OthersNew York Times (Mujib Mashal) — To Feed Hungry Minds, Afghans Seed a Ravaged Land With Books

Keeping the Faith in A Faithless Age: the Church as a Moral Minority

“The greatest question of our time,” offered historian Will Durant, “is not communism versus individualism, not Europe versus America, not even East versus the West; it is whether men can live without God.” That question, it now appears, will be answered in our own time.

For centuries the Christian church has been the center of Western civilization. Western culture, government, law, and society were based on explicitly Christian principles. Concern for the individual, a commitment to human rights, and respect for the good, the beautiful, and the true-all of these grew out of Christian convictions and the influence of revealed religion.

All of these, we now hasten to add, are under serious attack. The very notion of right and wrong is now discarded by large sectors of American society. Where it is not discarded, it is often debased. Taking a page out of Alice in Wonderland, modern secularists simply declare wrong, right, and right, wrong.

Quaker theologian D. Elton Trueblood once described America as a “cut flower civilization.” Our culture, he argued, is cut off from its Christian roots like a flower cut at the stem. Though the flower will hold its beauty for a time, it is destined to wither and die.

When Trueblood spoke those words over two decades ago, the flower could still be seen with some color and signs of life. But the blossom has long since lost its vitality, and it is time for the fallen petals to be acknowledged.

“When God is dead,” argued Dostoyevsky, “anything is permissible.” The permissiveness of modern American society can scarcely be exaggerated, but it can be traced directly to the fact that modern men and women act as if God does not exist, or is powerless to accomplish His will.

The Christian church now finds itself facing a new reality. The church no longer represents the central core of Western culture. Though outposts of Christian influence remain, these are exceptions rather than the rule. For the most part, the church has been displaced by the reign of secularism.

The daily newspaper brings a constant barrage which confirms the current state of American society. This age is not the first to see unspeakable horror and evil, but it is the first to deny any consistent basis for identifying evil as evil or good as good.

The faithful church is, for the most part, tolerated as one voice in the public arena, but only so long as it does not attempt to exercise any credible influence on the state of affairs. Should the church speak forcefully to an issue of public debate, it is castigated as coercive and out of date.

How does the church think of itself as it faces this new reality? During the 1980s, it was possible to think in ambitious terms about the church as the vanguard of a moral majority. That confidence has been seriously shaken by the events of the past decade.

Little progress toward the re-establishment of a moral center of gravity can be detected. Instead, the culture has moved swiftly toward a more complete abandonment of all moral conviction.

The confessing church must now be willing to be a moral minority, if that is what the times demands. The church has no right to follow the secular siren call toward moral revisionism and politically correct positions on the issues of the day.

Whatever the issue, the church must speak as the church-that is, as the community of fallen but redeemed, who stand under divine authority. The concern of the church is not to know its own mind, but to know and follow the mind of God. The church’s convictions must not emerge from the ashes of our own fallen wisdom, but from the authoritative Word of God which reveals the wisdom of God and His commands.

The church is to be a community of character. The character produced by a people who stand under the authority of the Sovereign God of the universe will inevitably be at odds with a culture of unbelief.

The American church is faced with a new situation. This new context is as current as the morning newspaper and as old as those first Christian churches in Corinth, Ephesus, Laodicea, and Rome. Eternity will record whether or not the American church is willing to submit only to the authority of God; or whether the church will forfeit its calling in order to serve lesser gods.

The church must awaken to its status as a moral minority and hold fast to the gospel we have been entrusted to preach. In so doing, the deep springs of permanent truth will reveal the church to be a life-giving oasis amidst American’s moral desert.

This article was originally published July 16, 2009.

The Briefing 04-07-16

Trump's ascendancy an indication of Christianity's decline in America?New York Times (Eduardo Porter) — Donald Trump’s Rise Shows Religion Is Losing Its Political Power

Death penalty weighed by Fed in Charleston church shooting, confirming human moral natureUS News (Associated Press) — Death Penalty Still on the Table for Suspected Charleston Shooter

US military's gender and transgender policies run into the cold, hard facts of realityNew York Times (Editorial Board) — The Military’s Transgender Policy, StalledNew York Times (Michael S. Schmidt) — ‘Yeo-Person’? One Title Vexes Navy’s Push for Gender Neutrality

The Briefing 04-06-16

Both 2016 presidential frontrunners handed significant setbacks in Wisconsin primariesNew York Times — Wisconsin Primary Results

Mississippi joins states standing for religious liberty, backlash sure to followJackson Clarion-Ledger (Sam R. Hall and Geoff Pender) — Gov. Phil Bryant signs MS 'religious freedom' bill

Invasive government lawmakers propose sexual orientation appear on national censusThe Hill (Tim Devaney) — Lawmakers call for gay headcount in census

Authority of Scripture, not social issues, root of Church of Scotland's declineReligion News Service (Trevor Grundy) — A majority of people in Scotland have no religionChurch of Scotland — Church of Scotland responds to Social Attitudes Survey

The Briefing 04-05-16

News from Panama and Brazil reveals massive corruption among global leaders, esp. dictatorsUSA Today (Greg Toppo) — Massive data leak in Panama reveals money rings of global leadersNew York Times (Simon Romero) — Insider’s Account of How Graft Fed Brazil’s Political Crisis

Role reversal: Children acting like adults and adults like children is detrimental to bothWall Street Journal (Alexandra Wolfe) — The Importance of Giving Children Independence

Philosophy prof. makes waves by calling both believers and atheists to doubt—on EasterNew York Times (William Irwin) — God Is a Question, Not an AnswerNew York Times — Faith and Doubt

The Briefing 04-04-16

Obama administration threatens cutting funds to North Carolina over transgender bathroom lawNew York Times (Matt Apuzzo and Alan Blinder) — North Carolina Law May Risk Federal AidNews Service of Florida (Margie Menzel) — Feds could block state ban on Planned Parenthood moneyWashington Post (Jenna Portnoy) — McAuliffe vetoes bill blocking Planned Parenthood fundingThe Guardian (Molly Redden) — Abortion without the clinic on offer with revolutionary new US program

Columnist calls for Christians to bow to modernity and accept inevitable LGBT directionNew York Times (Frank Bruni) — Bigotry, the Bible and the Lessons of IndianaNew York Times (Frank Bruni) — The Republicans’ Gay Freakout

Sydney University forces evangelical group to abandon evangelical statement "Jesus is Lord"Sydney Morning Herald (Eryk Bagshaw) — University of Sydney evangelical students vote to keep Jesus