Some of the Candidates on Same-Sex Marriage

 (Baptist Press)

MANCHESTER, N.H. (BP) -- Redefining marriage to include gay couples has negative consequences that rarely are discussed in the news media, Republican presidential candidates Newt Gingrich and Mitt Romney say.

The two men made the comments during an ABC News/Yahoo GOP debate Saturday (Jan. 7) in New Hampshire leading up to the state's first-in-the-nation primary. Gingrich, Romney, Rick Santorum and Jon Huntsman all were asked their opinions either on gay "marriage" or civil unions, with most of the questions centered on what they would say to the gay person who wants to be "married."

After several minutes of watching the back-and-forth between the ABC News moderators and the candidates, Gingrich pushed back. ...  MORE...

Christian Principles for Realistic Politics

 (Kevin DeYoung)  Voting for President of the United States begins today in Iowa. For the next ten months it will be hard to avoid hearing about politics. This is welcome news to political junkies and tiresome for everybody else. But whether you are into politics or not, you should care about the political process. And as Christians we should try to think Christianly about the issues and candidates before us.
This can be tricky. On the one hand, I’m concerned that some of us think there is a Christian position on every issue—as if the Bible determines the one and only God-honoring decision regarding rates of taxation or how to respond if Iran closes the Straits of Hormuz....MORE...

The Next Billy Graham Might Be Drunk Right Now

(Russell Moore) Whenever I start to get discouraged about the future of the church, I remember a conversation I had a few years ago with evangelical theologian Carl F. H. Henry on what would turn out to be his last visit to Southern Seminary before his death.
Several of us were lamenting the miserable shape of the church, about so much doctrinal vacuity, vapid preaching, non-existent discipleship. We asked Dr. Henry if he saw any hope in the coming generation of evangelicals.  MORE:

Resources for Keeping your Resolutions

 (Tim Challies) Did you make any resolutions this new year? If you didn’t, Burk Parsons’ Tabletalk article from a few years ago may persuade you to think again. Burk argues that the Bible gives us good reasons for making resolutions, as long as we make them sensibly, dependently, humbly, and for Christ’s sake. The beginning of a new year is a logical time to consider some resolutions. MORE:

Two Helpful Book Reviews on Real Marriage by Mark & Grace Driscoll

TIM CHALLIES: It must be intimidating to write a book on marriage. Store shelves are groaning under the weight of titles that claim to have the key to a happy marriage, or a biblical marriage or a gospel-centered marriage. To rise above such a crowded field a book needs to offer something different, something unique, something that distinguishes it from the pack. Mark and Grace Driscoll have jumped into the fray with their new book Real Marriage: The Truth About Sex, Friendship, and Life Together and the distinguishing feature of their book is its gut honesty, its sheer vulnerability. The Driscolls invite the reader deep into their own marriage and attempt to answer difficult, intimate questions—More....

DENNY BURK:  I am no connoisseur of marriage manuals, but Mark and Grace Driscoll’s recent contribution to the genre has to be one of the most provocative treatments ever penned for and by evangelicals. In Real Marriage: The Truth about Sex, Friendship & Life Together, Mark and Grace share candidly about the significant sexual brokenness that afflicted the early years of their own marriage and about how the Lord delivered them from it. They also discuss in graphic detail the questions that couples frequently ask them about the marital bed. MORE....