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Talk with Greg Tuesday

Greg is hosting the broadcast live Tuesday 4-6 p.m. PT.  

Ask your question. Share a piece of your mind. Call with your question or comment at (855) 243-9975, outside the U.S. (562) 424-8229. The broadcast is live Tuesday 4-6 p.m. P.T. – commentary and your calls. Streaming live online.

Listen live online. Join us on Twitter during the program @STRtweets.

The program is two hours now, and one hour podcast episodes are posted on Wednesday and Friday.

Talk to Alan this Tuesday

Alan Shlemon is hosting the podcast live this week, Tuesday 4-6 p.m. PT.  

Ask your question. Share a piece of your mind. Call with your question or comment at (855) 243-9975, outside the U.S. (562) 424-8229. The broadcast is live Tuesday 4-6 p.m. P.T. – commentary and your calls. He'll also talk to Abdu Murray about witnessing to Muslims.  

Listen live online. 

The program is two hours now, and one hour podcast episodes are posted on Wednesday and Friday.

How to Persuade Your Pastor to Include Apologetics at Your Church

I recently heard Dr. Hugh Ross share some ideas he’s learned from long experience that I thought would be helpful because a lot of people ask about this.

There’s a new challenge to evangelism. In the past, evangelism assumed Hebrews 11:6 as a starting point for unbelievers (i.e., “[W]hoever would draw near to God must believe that He exists”). But many people don’t even believe in God, and won’t even grant that He is good if He does exist. In addition, so many people live in cities now that they are out of touch with the book of nature and God’s revelation of His glories there. So apologetics is needed to fill in these foundational beliefs before even getting to the Gospel. As our society becomes more secularized, apologetics is going to be even more needed than before to make the case for fundamental things most people believed in the past but don’t anymore. Show your pastor the need all Christians have of being able to make a case for these things.

Here are a number of other tips. I’ve mixed in some of my own with Dr. Ross’s.

• Establish God’s existence using arguments for the origin of the universe, origin of life, and fine-tuning—these are the issues that most commonly persuade atheists.

• Show God is the biblical God—connect general evidence to the Bible.

• Help pastors delegate expertise to others. Be a solution to this need in the congregation.

• Help pastors see the opportunities of bringing new people into the church by addressing these questions. Use controversial topics to attract unbelievers. Host a discussion rather than debate. Answer questions and challenges. Demonstrate that the church takes these questions seriously and has reasonable answers.

• Address controversy with grace, humility, gentleness, and respect in a biblical way.

• Meet with concerned members ahead of time to allay their concerns.

• Avoid triumphalism—a “Beat the atheists!" attitude.

• Invite Q&A within the church so believers can build their confidence by having their questions and doubts answered, and be open to questions from unbelievers.

• Use events to attract unbelievers. Classes can draw more visitors than services. Midsize groups and classes are more effective at attracting visitors and giving them a chance to ask questions.

• Plan Q&A forums for the kids in the congregation to build their confidence early.

• Encourage, don’t scold, church leaders. Show compassion for pastors who have a lot of things on their plate.

Romans Prescribes the Gospel, Not Execution

The New York Times claims that Romans 1 calls for the execution of gays. A Republican congressman read the passage at a committee hearing. I don’t know the congressman’s purpose, but it couldn’t be to call for the execution of gays because the passage doesn’t say that. And 2,000 years of Christian teaching has never taught that it does.

It tells us we’re all sinners deserving punishment, but the only execution referred to in Romans is that of Jesus, who took the punishment Romans 1 is speaking of on behalf of sinners so that sinners can be reconciled to Him.

The relevant passage, Romans 1:18-32, begins: “For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth.” All ungodliness. Romans isn’t singling out gays, though homosexuality is mentioned. So are many other sins:

They were filled with all manner of unrighteousness, evil, covetousness, malice. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, maliciousness. They are gossips, slanderers, haters of God, insolent, haughty, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, foolish, faithless, heartless, ruthless. Though they know God's righteous decree that those who practice such things deserve to die, they not only do them but give approval to those who practice them.

No one can read that passage and walk away scot-free because we’ve all committed at least some of those sins, and maybe all. Some of these sins are universally common – disobedient to parents – because Paul means to count every single one of us as sinners so that we will look to the Savior who won a pardon for us.

Matthew Henry’s commentary, a very mainstream study of Romans, explains that the wrath spoken of here is God’s focused on all sin. Christians identify themselves as the subjects of this passage because we are sinners. Paul’s point in writing this is to point to Jesus. Romans 3:21-25:

But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the Law and the Prophets bear witness to it—the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction: for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith.

There is no distinction. All of us have fallen short. And whose actual death has offered redemption to make the spiritual death spoken of in Romans 1 unnecessary? Jesus.

Christians make no claims about sinners that we aren’t making of ourselves – and we aren’t calling for our own execution. Rather, we make the same appeal Paul makes here – to accept Jesus’ sacrifice and be reconciled with God and receive spiritual life.

Sure, it’s understandable to get angry about an article like this. But that’s not constructive. It’s also grievous that the Gospel can be so misunderstood. A constructive response to this is to recommit ourselves to communicating the Gospel as clearly as we can and living in a way that commends the message and glorifies the Savior.

I was praying about it this morning, asking God that instead of turning ugly, this could actually be a new opening to the Gospel, as it comes under attack, that people will see what Christians have to say and we would be faithful and clear to tell them.

We Should Respond as Jesus Taught Us To

Pat Robertson made remarks that have people up in arms. He said, “The left is having a dilemma of major proportions [between two favored groups], and I think, for those of us who disagree with some of their policies, the best thing to do is to sit on the sidelines and let them kill themselves.” People are questioning whether the “them” is the left or gays and Muslims, and many are taking his words in the worst possible way to confirm the worst they think about Christians’ feelings about LGBT people. Even in the best possible light, his comments are tone deaf in the wake of the Orlando shooting and inappropriate for a Christian in the media to say.

There’s a new story that a pastor in Sacramento said that the people at the Orlando club got what they deserved because they were sodomites. No they didn’t. In the New Testament, homosexuality is listed along with a variety of other sins that pretty much everyone commits. So no single kind of sinner deserves to be murdered. And the Bible certainly doesn’t teach that gays are to be singled out for punishment in this world.

Jesus’ teaching does not leave Christians the option to make flippant or cruel and uncaring remarks about others.

So let’s clarify what Jesus taught about Christians’ feelings and attitude toward others. Jesus said to love and pray for those who differ with us. He made Christians ministers of reconciliation to the world, to lost people, appealing to them as though Jesus were appealing to them.

We cannot dismissively wish others harm.

The Gospel message that Jesus taught is that all of us are sinners, and those who have been reconciled to God already are to love those who are not yet reconciled and to offer them peace with God.

These two men have offered unbiblical responses. Let’s pray the Body of Christ as a larger whole responds as Jesus taught us to.

Orlando Shooting

The shooting in Orlando yesterday was an atrocity. As Al Mohler tweeted, “The Bible honors weeping with those who weep. A lot of our LGBT neighbors and their families are weeping now. Christians must weep with them.”

When I retweeted Mohler’s statement, someone responded that we’re hypocrites because we think gays are going to burn in Hell and God will be happy about it. Not true.

The Bible teaches that all people – every single person – is a valuable human being born with God’s image, and that we have an obligation to respect that. Every one of us. The Bible also teaches that all human beings are fallen and lost. The consequence of that is that all people – every single person – will be lost forever unless we are reconciled to God. No person, no group, no particular sin is singled out, because all sin breaks relationship with God. And even though we are all lost, while we are yet lost, we are valuable human beings who still retain the image of God and deserve respect.

The Bible also teaches that reconciliation with God is available to all people – every single person – through Jesus, God in the flesh who came to us to make that possible. And the Bible teaches that those who have been reconciled to God because they have realized their lost situation are now reconcilers themselves, appealing to others to accept peace with God that He has made possible through Jesus, God Himself.

We’re all the same – valuable human beings. We’re all in the same situation – lost and alienated from God. And peace with God is available to all.

As Russell Moore stated today, “We don’t have to agree on the meaning of marriage and sexuality to love one another and to see the murderous sin of terrorism.” To disagree on political and policy issues is totally different than loving others and offering them the forgiveness we needed, too.

Let’s be as clear as we can be in our message and have our actions back up our role as ministers of reconciliation.

So we grieve at the loss of valuable human beings. We are angry at the atrocity of targeting LGBT people. And we show Jesus’s love for them and all people at all times.

First They Change the Definition, and Then They Claim the Right

The other day, I retweeted Brian Seagraves’ tweet: “The transgender community wants a right no one has had: the right to use a bathroom that doesn’t match your sex.” Someone replied that transgender people are just looking for the same right that everyone has already had – to use a bathroom that matches their gender identity.

This sleight of hand has been used before. Redefine marriage as a union of two people who love each other rather than as a lifelong union of one man and one woman. The sleight of hand is to change the terms of a right and then claim it or reapply it in a way that has never been thought of before. Like any trick, sometimes it’s easy to miss what happened. Christians sometimes don’t know how to respond because they missed the substitution.

The definition of marriage was usually not specified as a man and a woman, but that’s because it was taken for granted. It also took for granted one of each sex. But things began to change decades ago when people began to vow “as long as we both shall love.” The initial sleight of hand meant marriage wasn’t for life any longer. That was the first change of definition—to be able to end a marriage easily (at least legally; divorce is never easy). A few decades down the road, the change of definition allows the further substitution of definition for male and female and the number of people. Now we have rights no one has ever had even though they claim it’s equal rights. No one of the same sex and no group of more than two fit the definition of marriage. Change the definition, and then claim the right.

That’s what’s going on with transgender access to bathrooms. Bathroom use was never ever divvied up according to gender identity. Gender identity is a new category as distinct from sex. Bathrooms have been assigned to sex, not gender identity. Thus, literally and figuratively, the plumbing matters. But change the definition, and then claim the right.

Look, we can and should continue to point out the erroneous thinking and resist changes in the law that have no rational or ethical foundation. But since that isn’t currently having much affect in these policy changes, the main point of this post is to encourage you to not be duped to change your mind, even when you don’t quite notice the sleight of hand. Watch for it. But don’t be dissuaded in your convictions.

The Back of the Book

One of the tactics in Greg’s book is “the back of the book.” Some people like to jump to the end of the book to find out how it ends before reading the whole thing. Sometimes you know the end of the story so you notice things about the narrative that you wouldn’t otherwise. Knowing the ending gives you some insight. Since God has created every one of us and He’s given us His manual for what we need to know, Christians have some insight that others may not have because they’re still running from God.

The definition of freedom running rampant in our culture is to follow our desires, satisfy our appetites. If freedom is to be protected, that means having the pursuit of those desires protected. Freedom used to be lack of interference by government; now it means intense government intervention in very private parts of life (e.g., who uses the bathrooms) because of this shift in definition.

As Christians, we already know that this isn’t freedom, it’s bondage. Bondage to sin. We’re not free if we’re driven by unrestrained desires and feelings. We’re not free if we are controlled by our sinful natures. But that is exactly what our culture is pursuing right now.

Since we know something about the Creator and what He’s told us about how He’s made us, we know that this pursuit will not satisfy. Sex outside of marriage will not ultimately satisfy because we’re created to be in lifelong union with one person. Adultery will not satisfy because it’s a violation of that union. Homosexuality and transgender affirmation will not satisfy because these are not how we are created. People in our culture are looking for fulfillment and satisfaction in ways that they cannot be found. With every legal victory affirming their desires and feelings, people in our culture expect to find what they’re looking for, but we know they won’t. They cannot because they’re looking for it in ways that are bound to fail. We know this as Christians because we found that out for ourselves. Even as Christians, we have to learn some hard lessons when we pursue what we should not.

So what we can expect is hurting and lost people even more hurting and lost. We need to graciously and compassionately speak the truth in love even while they don’t want to hear it. Along the way, some who were angry at us for saying what is true and good will come looking for answers to what they’re looking for when they realize they’re in bondage, not free.

Remember that we know something about them that they don’t even know. Instead of letting yourself think of them as enemies now because of the acrimony, see people who may come back to you at some point because they’ve finally realized what they’re pursuing can’t deliver what they’d hoped. They need freedom, but true freedom from sin. And that can only be found in forgiveness from and reconciliation with God.

How We Should Treat Political Opponents

Mark Galli has a good editorial in the current Christianity Today issue. I disagree with a couple of points. But I appreciate his primary message – reminding Christians that we’re to love and care for those who oppose and persecute us.

He makes an important point very succinctly that I took a long blog post to make. Religious conservatives and LGBT activists are arguing from two very different metaphysics and are therefore talking past each other. He writes:

The first group believes that sexual mores are rooted in God-given teaching and the natural order. The second group believes every individual has the right to determine how to live sexually….

This is a seemingly irreconcilable situation. While the legal issues are significant and worth fighting for, Christians also need to remember we cannot hold hatred and animosity toward others no matter how they revile us for Jesus’ sake. And we are called to a higher ethic than only protecting our rights.

But I disagree with a couple of other points.

Mark writes, “Yet we also believe that the Lord calls us to look out for the interests of our political opponents. So, we must not seek legislation that protects our freedom if that same legislation denies the rights of people with whom we disagree.”

He’s making a good point here, reminding us of the call to look beyond our own interests. But I’m not sure of the “rights of people with whom we disagree” that he’s referring to. Since it’s the discussion in our culture right now, I think he’s referring to the rights of gay people to marry others of the same sex, and transgender people to use bathrooms of the sex they identify with, and generally the demand not to have others disagree with their behavior. If so, I don’t think these are rights they can claim at all. A right is a just claim to something. The U.S. Declaration of Independence states the grounding and source of rights quite succinctly: they are God-given. And we can also find sufficient grounds for rights in natural law. In neither of these can rights be found to force others by law to support what is immoral and unnatural. If there is no right, then I don’t see a responsibility to protect those rights. If Galli is referring to the rights to be safe, not be harassed and harmed, then I certainly agree. But I’m not familiar with any legislation that would take away that right or any other just rights claims made by those we disagree with.

A few paragraphs later Galli expands on his good point about going above and beyond. He equates Jesus instructing His followers to help a Roman soldier carrying his load with a Christian baker baking not just one, but two cakes for a same-sex wedding. I get his general point about the higher ethic Christians are called to, but I don’t think his example is a good parallel. A Roman soldier enlisting a Jew to carry his load may be unjust but it’s not an immoral activity in any way. A modern vendor being involved in a same-sex wedding is, arguably, being involved in an immoral activity, which is why Christians are objecting to being forced by law to do so.

Galli’s overall points are good ones. And his conclusion is wise counsel:

In the meantime, what would happen to us if our liberties were trashed and we were forced to suffer penalties and indignities for our faith? Jesus says that we’ll enjoy a reward, and that our reward will be great. Sounds like a win win to us. Maybe that’s why he also said, “Fear not.”