R. Albert Mohler Jr.'s Blog, page 286

The Briefing 02-09-16

Rise of socialism's popularity on the Left reveals many unaware of historical failuresWall Street Journal (Laura Meckler and Richard Rubin) — How Democrats’ Shift to the Left Is Helping Bernie SandersInvestor's Business Daily (Catherine Rampell) — Why Socialism Isn’t A Bugaboo For Millennials

Clash of worldviews on the Left puts Hollywood and young voters at odds with feministsWall Street Journal (Erich Schwartzel and John R. Emshwiller) — Hollywood Enthusiasm, If Not Money, Flows to Bernie SandersNew York Times (Alan Rappeport) — Gloria Steinem and Madeleine Albright Rebuke Young Women Backing Bernie Sanders

Global unrest has direct impact on 2016 presidential race in the candidacy of Rand Paul Time (Michael Sherer) — The Reinventions of Rand Paul

The Briefing 02-08-16

NARAL's outrage over Doritos ultrasound ad reveals that pro-choice means anti-babyTwitter (@NARAL) — NARAL Super Bowl Tweet

Feminist laments lack of sympathy from feminist friends after miscarriage, mourns childGlobe and Mail (Alexandra Kimball) — Unpregnant: The silent, secret grief of miscarriage

Necco candy chooses gay couple for Valentine's ad, attempts to capitalize on moral revolutionBoston Globe (Katie Johnston) — For Necco, a different kind of ‘Sweethearts’

$4.5 billion: cost of the battle for our eyeballs over 50 years of Super Bowl advertisingAd Age (Bradley Johnson) — Super Bowl, Supersized: $4.5 Billion in Ad Spending Over 50 Years

The Briefing 02-05-16

Prior to considering legal challenges of revenge porn is the morality of pornography itselfLouisville Courier-Journal (Mike Wynn) — What can Kentucky do about revenge porn?

Recommending "safe sex" in light of Zika virus fails to consider meaning of "safe" or "sex"Washington Post (Michael E. Miller) — Zika could inject fear back into sex

Utah legislator recognizes harmful effects of porn, dismisses as merely correlationMarket Watch (Emma Court) — A Utah legislator is seeking to cast porn as a public-health issue

Barbie's new figure reminds that even toys have a worldview behind themTime (Eliana Dockterman) — Barbie's Got a New BodyNew York Times (Rachel Abrams) — Barbie Adds Curvy and Tall to Body Shapes

Students paying full tuition at Ivy League business school for new age spiritualismWall Street Journal (Lindsay Gellman) — Deepak Chopra Helps M.B.A.s Get in Touch With Their Spiritual Side

The Briefing 02-04-16

In historic mosque visit, Obama attempts to reduce teaching of Islam to moralismNew York Times (Gardiner Harris) — Obama, in Mosque Visit, Denounces Anti-Muslim BiasThe White House — Remarks by the President at Islamic Society of Baltimore

In influential mosques across the globe, demise of the West a common theme preachedWall Street Journal (Steven Stalinsky) — A Mosque as Extremist Megaphone

Statement for religious freedom signed in country that does not recognize Christian faithNew York Times (Aida Alami) — Muslim Conference Calls for Protection of Religious MinoritiesWashington Post (Ayman S. Ibrahim) — History suggests Marrakesh Declaration no guarantee of religious freedom

Death of militarized fourth-grader in Afghanistan exposes horror story of child combatantsNew York Times (Mujib Mashal and Taimoor Shah) — Taliban Gun Down 10-Year-Old Militia Hero in Afghanistan

Proponent of forcing bakers to bake gay cakes changes mind, champions freedom of conscienceThe Guardian (Peter Tatchell) — I’ve changed my mind on the gay cake row. Here’s why

Secularization and the Sexual Revolution: Evangelical Theology and the Cultural Crisis (Part 1)

This post is the first in a four part series on Secularization and the Sexual Revolution.

In the face of the sexual revolution the Christian church in the West now faces a set of challenges that exceeds anything it has experienced, of a similar magnitude, in the past. This is a revolution of ideas—one that is transforming the entire moral structure of meaning and life. These challenges would be vexing enough for any generation. But the contours of our current challenge have to be understood over against the affecting reality for virtually everything on the American landscape, and furthermore in the West. This revolution, like all revolutions, takes few prisoners. In other words, it demands total acceptance of its revolutionary claims and the affirmation of its aims. This is the problem now faced by Christians who are committed to uncompromising faithfulness to the Bible as the Word of God and to the gospel as the only message of salvation.

The scale and scope of this challenge are made clear in an argument made by British Theologian Theo Hobson. As Hobson acknowledges, “Churches have always faced difficult moral issues and they have muddled through.” Some will argue that the challenge of the sexual revolution and the normalization of homosexuality is nothing new or unusual. He says, “Until quite recently I would have agreed,” but he also says “it becomes ever clearer that the issue of homosexuality really is different.”

Why is such a challenge to Christianity different? Hobson suggests that the first challenge is what he recognizes as the either/or quality of the new morality. I agree with him that there really is no middle ground in terms of the church’s engagement with these hard and urgent questions. Churches will either affirm the legitimacy of same-sex relationships and behaviors or they will not. And the churches that do not will take a stand on the basis of a claim that God has revealed a morality to his human creatures in Holy Scripture.

The second factor Hobson suggests is what he calls “the sheer speed of the homosexual cause’s success.” As he describes it: “Something that was assumed for centuries to be unspeakably immoral has emerged as an alternative form of life, an identity that merits legal protection. The demand for gay equality has basically ousted traditionalist sexual morality from the moral high ground.” That is a profoundly important point. Hobson is arguing that this revolution, unlike any other, has actually turned the tables on Christianity in Western civilization.

The Christian church has always enjoyed the moral high ground, understood to be the guardian of what is right and righteous, at least in Western societies. But what we are seeing now is a fundamental change. Hobson is arguing that this moral revolution, having turned the tables of Christianity, now robs the Christian Church of the moral high ground it had previously claimed. The situation is fundamentally reversed. For the first time in the history of Western civilization, Christianity appears to be on the underside of morality, and those who hold to biblical teachings concerning human sexuality are now “ousted” (to use Hobson’s word) from the position of high moral ground.

Hobson also rightly observes that this vast change in attitudes towards same-sex relationships and behaviors is not simply “the waning of the taboo.” As he explains:

It is not just a case of a practice losing its aura of immorality (as with premarital sex or illegitimacy). Instead, the case for homosexual equality takes the form of a moral crusade. Those who want to uphold the old attitude are not just dated moralists (as is the case with those who want to uphold the old attitude to premarital sex or illegitimacy). They are accused of moral deficiency. The old taboo surrounding this practice does not disappear but ‘bounces back’ at those who seek to uphold it. Such a sharp turn-around is, I think, without parallel in moral history.

Hobson’s main point is that homosexuality “has the strange power to turn the moral tables.” And so what was previously understood to be immoral is now celebrated as a moral good. As a result, the Christian church’s historic teachings on homosexuality—shared by the vast majority of the citizens of the West until very recently—is now understood to be a relic of the past and a repressive force that must be eradicated.

This explains why the challenge of the moral revolution threatens to shake the very foundations of Christianity in the United States and far beyond. And yet, even as we understand this revolution to be a new thing, its roots are not recent. As a matter of fact, the church has seen the sexual revolution taking place turn by turn for the better part of the last century. What now becomes clear is that most Christians vastly underestimated the challenge this sexual revolution would present.

The Briefing 02-03-16

US looks to register women for the draft, comes face-to-face with egalitarian implicationsWashington Post (Dan Lamothe) — Army and Marine Corps chiefs: It’s time for women to register for the draftChristian Post (Anugrah Kumar) — Is it Biblical for Women to Lead in Politics, Military?

Recent pro-life victories in Kentucky made possible by election of pro-life governorLouisville Courier-Journal — Bevin signs abortion bill as soon as it arrivesLouisville Courier-Journal (Deborah Yetter) — Bevin counsel: Planned Parenthood got bad infoLouisville Courier-Journal (Deborah Yetter) — Planned Parenthood exec visits amid dispute

While some religious liberty battles are inevitable, Bevin shows how others are avoidableNational Review (Andrew Walker) — Bevin Signs an Executive Order in Kentucky, Resolving the Dispute over Religious Liberty

China detains Christian pastor, sends signal to those who would challenge the atheist regimeTIME (Rishi Iyengar) — China Has Imprisoned the Pastor of Its Largest Official Church

If the World Hates You

The Briefing 02-02-16

Iowa Caucus resets political equation as candidates and their worldviews face real votersNew York Times — Iowa Caucus ResultsNew York Times (Editorial Board) — Hillary Clinton for the Democratic NominationThe Nation (Editorial Board) — Bernie Sanders for President

As India seeks to halt sex-selective abortions, USA still offers legal abortion-on-demandWall Street Journal (Suryatapa Bhattacharya) — India Targets Illicit Sex-Selective Abortions

Britain legalizes genetic modification of human embryos for research, sidelines ethicsThe Guardian (Haroon Siddique) — British researchers get green light to genetically modify human embryos

The Briefing 02-01-16

Origin of "-phobic" in cultural vocabulary reveals link between conversation and worldviewNew York Times Magazine (Amanda Hess) — How ‘-Phobic’ Became a Weapon in the Identity Wars

Multiplication of new gender pronouns a rejection of God's design of man as male and femaleNew York Times (Jessica Bennett) — She? Ze? They? What’s In a Gender Pronoun

The Briefing 01-29-16

Christian response to Zika virus should be righteous concern for human life, not fearWashington Post (Ariana Eunjung Cha and Lena H. Sun) — WHO: Zika virus ‘spreading explosively,’ level of alarm ‘extremely high’Washington Post (Lena H. Sun and Brady Dennis) — Why the United States is so vulnerable to the alarming spread of Zika virusThe Atlantic (Tajha Chappellet-Lanier) — What’s Next for the Zika Virus?Washington Post (Christopher Sherman and Marcos Aleman) — In face of Zika virus, women ponder abortion, childlessnessWired (Sarah Zhang) — Zika Virus May Push South America to Loosen Abortion Bans

Nazi war criminal Adolf Eichmann's letter illustrates human propensity to deny guiltNew York Times (Isabel Kershner) — Pardon Plea by Adolf Eichmann, Nazi War Criminal, Is Made Public