I have been recently asked how gambling is a biblical worldview issue. It is a valid question and since Florida is, at this moment, considering a renewal of the 30-year compact with the Seminole tribe concerning the extent, enlargement and administration of gambling, it is a question which deserves an answer. Especially from a pastor and Christian advocacy organization which espouses a biblical worldview philosophy. (NOTE: My answer is my own and not necessarily the organization’s official position.)
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Musings On How A Couple Makes It 39 Years
As I write this post / blog, I have recently celebrated 39 years of marriage with the wife of my youth, Tracie Baird. As she could testify, I am no relationship expert. Honestly, when the Lord passed out giftings, she was given (as are most women) the innate relationship abilities. I, on the other hand (like most men), have had to learn relationship and marriage through my own ineptness and difficult process. Tracie deserves an award for patience and stick-to-itiveness. Say what you want, marriage is hard work for the vast majority of us. Yes, there are some couples who find one another, and both have certain personality types which perfectly sync, and their journey is continual, blissful joy, but that dynamic is rare. You have probably heard the old saying that opposites attract. That is often the case. We like and are drawn to potential spouses which have strengths where we are potentially weak or lacking. The relationship should work well on paper, but in reality, it can be a bumpy road. And full discloser with regards to our marriage. We have journeyed 39 years together as husband and wife, but there were some bumpy, challenging times. We made some decisions along the way to refuse to call it quits no matter the challenges.
The Boys (and girls) Who Cry Wolf: Defining and Identifying Abuse
I have read a number of articles containing information and analysis of the Ravi Zacharias sex scandal. The details are more than troubling and my heart breaks for the victims who were obviously groomed and traumatized by a man who was profoundly deceived. It is tragic and demands the brightest light of transparency for the Church and its leaders to awaken, learn the important lessons, and appropriately change its operating procedures in order that this type of violation would become a rare exception within our community. It may be impossible to completely eradicate such perverseness due to the sinful nature of humanity, but safeguards and zero-tolerance are more than possible. Any abuse (sexual, physical, psychological, and the like) should be exposed and appropriately addressed. Period. As a husband whose wife has experienced first-hand and given public testimony to an abusive situation, this is no trivial matter in our household.
Which leads me to a point of analysis which hasn’t been addressed but I see developing on the horizon. I guess I would call it the trivialization of vocabulary.
SEVEN (7) Non-Negotiable, Foundational Attributes of the Post-Pandemic Church
Something needs to change…
I have sporadically posted in recent days that the Church needs to rethink some strategies in this Neo-pagan era which we currently find ourselves in. To look at the cultural landscape, process the last several elections, and then synthesize the impotent influence of the church in America should make us at least pause as to how we might consider going forward. To simply wait for our “omnipotent” government to decree that we are “all clear” with regards to the pandemic and then blindly return to the business that got us here, may not be wise, smart, or more importantly biblical.
Moralistic Therapeutic Deism and Post-Christian America
In 2005, an overlooked study by two sociologists examined the spiritual lives of American teenagers (13-19) from a wide variety of backgrounds. What they found (and please realize that this study is now indicative of adults 23-35) was that in most cases our culture adhered to a pseudo-religion researchers call Moralistic Therapeutic Deism (MTD).
MTD has 5 basic tenets (read carefully)…