First Church of the Not so Bad

(Highlands Ministries) Dr. RC Sproul, Jr. We are adepts not at fighting our sins but hiding them. We gather each Lord’s Day dressed in our smiles, share our praise reports and our health concerns, pat ourselves on our backs, and return home to our gross and heinous sins. We miss this in part because we are preternaturally positive about ourselves. We are willing to confess that there are some weak churches out there, somewhere down the road. There are destructive schools out there, but ours is one of the good ones. There are broken families out there, but ours is, as far as anyone can tell, a model of grace and peace. There are deluded sinners out there, but I thank you Lord I am not like them.  MORE

Should Christians support the creation of a sovereign Palestinian state?

Joel C. Rosenberg's Blog

(Los Angeles, California) — Should Christians support the creation of a sovereign Palestinian state? This has long been an important question. But it’s particularly relevant this week.
On Thursday, the Palestinian leadership will ask the United Nations General Assembly to vote on a resolution that will give them enhanced international legal status, not quite a full sovereign state, but very close. The resolution is expected to pass decisively. France, Russia, China and most nations of the world have indicated they will vote “yes” on the resolution. That’s right, the world is poised to say yes to a sovereign Palestinian state despite the fact that Palestinians in Gaza just committed more than 3,000 war crimes last week (each rocket was fired from behind innocent Arab civilians, and fired at innocent Jewish civilians, making each rocket fired a double war crime); despite the fact that the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank doesn’t have any control over the situation in Gaza; despite the fact that the PA has admantly refused to sit down and engage in face to face peace talks with the Israelis for years; and despite the fact that the PA is nearly bankrupt and unable to pay its workers).
[Note: On November 29, 1947, the U.N. voted for the famous "Partition Plan."] 

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Three Dirty Words: Tolerance, Diversity, and Welcoming

(Rev. Michael P. Orsi) There are three dirty words that are being used to subvert traditional morality in Western society: tolerance, diversity and welcoming.

These words are liberally used (no pun intended) in education, by the media, and even by our Churches. In themselves, they seem quite innocuous. To the untrained ear they sound like commendable practices geared toward helping folks who are “different” get along.

The fact of the matter is that these words are being used to lull us into an amoral complacency. They are being used as the vanguard for conditioning unsuspecting minds in the regnant Philosophy of Relativism.  MORE

How to Share Christ With Your Hindu Friends

Jeff Brawner / CORDOVA, Tenn. (BP) -- If you've traveled most anywhere in the United States recently, you've likely had contact with a follower of Hinduism, a religion that is becoming a major factor on the American religious landscape.

Jeff Brawner

Witnessing to Hindus can be daunting. A seminary student described his effort to reach out to a Hindu, saying, "They have all of those gods. I just felt ... helpless."

With 330 million gods, a Hindu's simple response can be, "How can we be wrong, if we accept that everyone is at least partially right?"

Still, increasing numbers of Hindus around the world are trusting Christ. The church in India now encompasses more than 70-million people, the world's eighth-largest Christian population.   MORE

At This "Mormon Moment" Convey Truth and Grace

(Ed Stetzer) NASHVILLE (BP) -- Mormonism is something we cannot escape right now. We are in a "Mormon Moment" thanks to the candidacy of Gov. Mitt Romney. Southern Baptists need to address this moment with truth and grace.

Richard Land, president of the Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission, is seldom subtle, speaking boldly and clearly about what he believes. We've agreed many times and disagreed a couple. Though I might nuance it differently, I think Southern Baptists would do well to consider his words in the Washington Post, "I wouldn't call [Mormonism] a cult but it claims to be Christian and isn't. Its theology is like a cult but socially and culturally it doesn't act like a cult.... They don't withdraw, they don't live in communities and they're not like Jehovah's Witnesses or James Jones."


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The Mormon Moment: How Christians Should Relate To Mormons

(Ed Stetzer) On this week's episode of The Exchange, Dr. Tal Davis and I engaged in a discussion about Mormonism. With the emergence of Governor Mitt Romney as the presumptive Republican nominee for President, a cultural discussion about Mormonism has emerged. Dr. Davis and I sought to bring an evangelical perspective to the table through our conversation.
Because of the growing conversation, I have both read and written about Mormonsim more in the past six months than I have in the past sixteen years. The following blog posts are just a small example: (MORE)