R. Albert Mohler Jr.'s Blog, page 287

The Briefing 01-27-16

Grand Jury's failure to indict Planned Parenthood a judgment against our nation's lawsNew York Times (Manny Fernandez) — 2 Abortion Foes Behind Planned Parenthood Videos Are IndictedWashington Post (Danielle Paquette) — The charges against anti-Planned Parenthood filmmaker, explained

Some in Anglican Communion would prefer sexual revolution to biblical truth and godly orderWashington Post (Colbert King) — The Anglican Communion’s un-Christian stance on marriageTimes of London — Unholy Split: On gay marriage, Justin Welby misreads history, morality and his job description

The Briefing 01-26-16

Every presidential election boils down to a choice between competing worldviewsNew York Times (Patrick Healy) — Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders Battle for Party’s FutureTIME (Joe Klein) — The Democrats Stumble Toward 50 Shades of Socialism

Character, conviction, and worldview must be central in determining how a Christian votesGet Religion (Terry Mattingly) — Hey reporters: Donald Trump tries to woo Iowa evangelicals, by attending liberal church?

The Briefing 01-25-16

Total erosion of doctrine of creation in Iceland shows rapid acceleration of secularization Washington Post (Rick Noack) — In this country, literally no young Christians believe that God created the EarthIceland Magazine — 0.0 Percent of Icelanders 25 years or younger believe God created the world, new poll revealsIceland Magazine — Gospel of Christ’s kindness trumps “religious freedom”: The Icelandic Lutheran Church to perform same-sex marriages

New York Times editorial board unable to answer origin of human evil and sinfulnessNew York Times (Editorial Board) — Is Warfare in Our Bones?

World Economic Forum in Davos reminds of man's inability to save himselfFinancial Times (Yuan Yang) — Davos 2016: The 4 big themes facing the World Economic Forum

Exodus 1:1-22

The Briefing 01-22-16

Britain charges Putin with assassination crime, seeks justice by airing truthWashington Post (Griff Witte and Michael Birnbaum) — Putin implicated in fatal poisoning of former KGB officer at London hotel

Children's lives unacceptably endangered in Flint, Michigan as city sought to save moneyNew York Times (Julie Bosman, Monica Davey, and Mitch Smith) — As Water Problems Grew, Officials Belittled Complaints From Flint

Government promises to "out" schools seeking Title IX waivers in response to LGBT lobby

As higher ed institutions move further left, the free exchange of ideas is threatenedHeterodox Academy (Jonathan Haidt) — New Study Indicates Existence of Eight Conservative Social PsychologistsBloomberg (Megan McArdle) — Academics Are So Lefty They Don't Even See It

U of L Law School's diversity initiatives tend to produce monolithic, liberal resultsLouisville Courier-Journal (Andrew Wolfson) — U of L law school adopts 'compassion' decreeLouisville Courier-Journal (Russell L. Weaver) — U of L's diversity gone awryLouisville Courier-Journal (Russell L. Weaver) — U of L law professor: 'Veered to partisan agenda'

The Briefing 01-21-16

57,762,169: The number of abortions performed in the United States since Roe v. WadeNew York Times Magazine (Emily Bazelon) — The Place of Women on the CourtKnights of Columbus News — New Marist Poll shows majority of Americans, including pro-choice supporters, want restrictions on abortions.

America's cognitive dissonance on abortion reveals deep moral confusionThe Atlantic (Emma Green) — The Cognitive Dissonance of Aborting a 'Child'The Atlantic (Emma Green) — The Power of Making Abortion Personal

Abortion remains central issue in 2016 presidential election for ChristiansRolling Stone (Jess Berney) — Why Do They Refuse to Ask About Abortion at the Democratic Debates?Wall Street Journal (William McGurn) — Hillary’s Sisterhood With Planned Parenthood

The Briefing 01-20-16

US-Iranian hostage swap prime example of moral dilemmas often faced in a fallen worldNew York Times (Peter Baker) — U.S.-Iranian Swaps Pit Compassion Against Costs

Hawking makes end-of-world predictions, illustrates hopelessness of secular naturalismBBC (David Shukman) — Hawking: Humans at risk of lethal 'own goal'

Custody battles over frozen embryos underscore personhood of unborn from conceptionNew York Times (Tamar Lewin) — Anti-Abortion Groups Join Battles Over Frozen Embryos

Rising trend to abort babies with Down's Syndrome an affront to the image of GodThe Telegraph (Tim Stanley) — Down's Syndrome people risk 'extinction' at the hands of science, fear and ignorance

New government guidelines for Canadian schools reveal the reaches of the LGBT revolutionCBC News — Alberta students to define their own gender: 5 big changes in new school guidelines

The Scandal of Biblical Illiteracy: It’s Our Problem

While America’s evangelical Christians are rightly concerned about the secular worldview’s rejection of biblical Christianity, we ought to give some urgent attention to a problem much closer to home–biblical illiteracy in the church. This scandalous problem is our own, and it’s up to us to fix it.

Researchers George Gallup and Jim Castelli put the problem squarely: “Americans revere the Bible–but, by and large, they don’t read it. And because they don’t read it, they have become a nation of biblical illiterates.” How bad is it? Researchers tell us that it’s worse than most could imagine.

Fewer than half of all adults can name the four gospels. Many Christians cannot identify more than two or three of the disciples. According to data from the Barna Research Group, 60 percent of Americans can’t name even five of the Ten Commandments. “No wonder people break the Ten Commandments all the time. They don’t know what they are,” said George Barna, president of the firm. The bottom line? “Increasingly, America is biblically illiterate.” [see Barna Group’s web site]

Multiple surveys reveal the problem in stark terms. According to 82 percent of Americans, “God helps those who help themselves,” is a Bible verse. Those identified as born-again Christians did better–by one percent. A majority of adults think the Bible teaches that the most important purpose in life is taking care of one’s family.

Some of the statistics are enough to perplex even those aware of the problem. A Barna poll indicated that at least 12 percent of adults believe that Joan of Arc was Noah’s wife. Another survey of graduating high school seniors revealed that over 50 percent thought that Sodom and Gomorrah were husband and wife. A considerable number of respondents to one poll indicated that the Sermon on the Mount was preached by Billy Graham. We are in big trouble.

Secularized Americans should not be expected to be knowledgeable about the Bible. As the nation’s civic conversation is stripped of all biblical references and content, Americans increasingly live in a Scripture-free public space. Confusion and ignorance of the Bible’s content should be assumed in post-Christian America.

The larger scandal is biblical ignorance among Christians. Choose whichever statistic or survey you like, the general pattern is the same. America’s Christians know less and less about the Bible. It shows.

How can a generation be biblically shaped in its understanding of human sexuality when it believes Sodom and Gomorrah to be a married couple? No wonder Christians show a growing tendency to compromise on the issue of homosexuality. Many who identify themselves as Christians are similarly confused about the Gospel itself. An individual who believes that “God helps those who help themselves” will find salvation by grace and justification by faith to be alien concepts.

Christians who lack biblical knowledge are the products of churches that marginalize biblical knowledge. Bible teaching now often accounts for only a diminishing fraction of the local congregation’s time and attention. The move to small group ministry has certainly increased opportunities for fellowship, but many of these groups never get beyond superficial Bible study.

Youth ministries are asked to fix problems, provide entertainment, and keep kids busy. How many local-church youth programs actually produce substantial Bible knowledge in young people?

Even the pulpit has been sidelined in many congregations. Preaching has taken a back seat to other concerns in corporate worship. The centrality of biblical preaching to the formation of disciples is lost, and Christian ignorance leads to Christian indolence and worse.

This really is our problem, and it is up to this generation of Christians to reverse course. Recovery starts at home. Parents are to be the first and most important educators of their own children, diligently teaching them the Word of God. [See Deuteronomy 6:4-9.] Parents cannot franchise their responsibility to the congregation, no matter how faithful and biblical its may be. God assigned parents this non-negotiable responsibility, and children must see their Christian parents as teachers and fellow students of God’s Word.

Churches must recover the centrality and urgency of biblical teaching and preaching, and refuse to sideline the teaching ministry of the preacher. Pastors and churches too busy–or too distracted–to make biblical knowledge a central aim of ministry will produce believers who simply do not know enough to be faithful disciples.

We will not believe more than we know, and we will not live higher than our beliefs. The many fronts of Christian compromise in this generation can be directly traced to biblical illiteracy in the pews and the absence of biblical preaching and teaching in our homes and churches.

This generation must get deadly serious about the problem of biblical illiteracy, or a frighteningly large number of Americans–Christians included–will go on thinking that Sodom and Gomorrah lived happily ever after.

The Briefing 01-19-16

Increase in mortality rate due to drug abuse correlates moral behavior and wellbeing New York Times (Gina Kolata and Sarah Cohen) — Drug Overdoses Propel Rise in Mortality Rates of Young WhitesNewsweek (Mike Mariani) — Why So Many White American Men are Dying

Nonsensical amicus brief before SCOTUS argues for abortion rights for "pregnant men"National LGBTQ Task Force — Broad Coalition of LGBTQ, Racial Justice, and Health Groups File Amicus Brief in Supreme Court Challenge to Texas Abortion RestrictionsTruth Out (Lauren Rankin) — Not Everyone Who Has an Abortion Is a Woman - How to Frame the Abortion Rights Issue

Legal and societal issues arising from breakup of the family show marriage is irreplaceableThe Economist — Carriage and horse

The Briefing 01-18-16

US hostage exchange with Iran elicits both thankfulness and moral indignationWall Street Journal (Editorial Board) — Iran’s Hostage Triumph

Anglican Church's 3-year time limit for ECUSA sanctions more likely a ticking time bombNew York Times (Laurie Goodstein and Kimiko de Freytas-Tamura) — Anglican Church Disciplines U.S. Episcopals Over Gay MarriagesNew York Times (Laurie Goodstein and Kimiko de Freytas-Tamura) — For Now, Anglicans Avert Schism Over Gay Marriage

Moral "arousal" vs. "outrage" difference between inactive provocation and active convictionNew York Times (Thomas L. Friedman) — The Age of ProtestUSA Today (Susan Page and Paul Singer) — Millennials' agenda for the next president

New study assumes children innately good, not sinful, concludes lying cause for celebrationWall Street Journal (Susan Pinker) — Children’s Lies Are a Sign of Cognitive Progress