Male Headship is about the Gospel

It’s Thursday, time for a little theology.

Recently Sheryl Sandberg, the Girl Scouts, and Beyonce teamed up with a few other high profile women to launch a campaign against the word “bossy.” Their idea is that the word is only really used in reference to girls and women who assert themselves, and thus it is a pejorative sexist term that should be eliminated from our language. After all, in their view of the world, women should be encouraged to assert themselves and rise up as leaders among their peers.

There are social and political implications in all of this that I’m not necessarily interested in addressing right now. But I would like to address one of the big, troublesome notions that comes along with this kind of progressive feminism, which is how it impacts the family and the church.

In the Beginning: A theological look at homosexuality

It’s Thursday, time for some theology.

The same-sex marriage debate continues to be a big one in our society. It would seem that same-sex marriage is a part of our society for the foreseeable future, and we’re now wrestling as a people with who should be impacted by that and what kind of impact it should have. Christian business owners are being confronted with discrimination suits when they don’t provide the same services to gay and lesbian couples as they do to heterosexual couples. Celebrities arouse great furor when they express their beliefs about the issue. Recently a very well known blogger received a scathing email from a college professor for his insistence that monogamous heterosexual marriage is the only correct form of marriage.

It has been said that the progression of sin is that first it asks to be ignored, then to be tolerated, then to be vindicated, then to be promoted. The last few years have seen our country vindicating homosexuality, but of course, that is not enough. It is now incumbent on all to hold up homosexuality as being just as good and valid as heterosexual marriage. This puts pressure on Christians who have both an internal drive and a Biblical mandate to not simply believe and keep that belief to themselves, but to speak about what the Bible actually says. Indeed, some have buckled under the pressure and either keep silent, or even silently acquiesce that same-sex couples should be recognized along with married couples. There are even those making claims that the Bible doesn’t actually speak against homosexuality at all. (<—Note the lack of citations or proofs offered for his claims in that article).

So while any theologian worth his salt should be able to point out that the Bible really does condemn homosexuality, at the encouragement from a friend I’m going to take a stab at talking about why any use of our sexuality outside of a marriage covenant between a man and a woman is contrary to God’s will.

“Nothing New Under the Sun”

In the following video, Pastor James Hein, pastor at Resurrection Lutheran Church in Rochester, MN, presents to a group at Marquette University Campus Ministry in the Milwaukee area. His basic thesis: “Human nature has not substantially changed in 2,000 years, therefore the Bible is just as relevant now as it always was.” Pastor Hein brings up a ton of awesome thoughts and ideas all connected to this thesis. It is well worth the watching/listening, and I promise it will provoke many thoughts! Enjoy!

If you want your thoughts to be provoked even more by Pastor Hein, check out his blog at http://pastorjameshein.wordpress.com.

Where Do You Find God?

It’s Thursday, time for some theology.

What might you say if you wanted to get a Confessional Lutheran Minister to take a long sigh, smile condescendingly, and grind his teeth? Well, maybe you can come up with some other ideas, but one surefire statement would be, “I love going for walks in the woods/on the beach/out in nature. I really find God when I’m out there.”

If you’ve ever said that you’re probably feeling slightly miffed and ready to click close on this blog post, but please hang with me. I want to show you how you legitimately can find God, where to find him, and how to make those walks in the woods/on the beach/out in nature a lot more spiritually fulfilling.

Theology of Masculinity

It’s Thursday. Time for some theology.

A couple days ago I posted about the difference between boys and girls, and how yes, we observe a difference, and so does Scripture, and no, the difference is not bad. Despite what our culture often tries to impress upon us, men and women are not “equals” in the sense that whatever one can do, so can the other. They are, however, equals in the sense that God has made salvation and eternal life free to all people, regardless of gender. But that’s about where the equality stops.

What is “good”?

It’s Thursday. Time for some theology.

You hear it all the time, especially after some kind of tragedy has struck. “How could a good God do…?” or “I could never believe in a God who would let this happen!” or “This kind of thing is proof to me that there is no God.” Philosophers have used this to try and disprove the existence of God. Their argument goes something like this:

“God, by definition, is supremely good, all knowing, and supremely powerful. However, there is evil in the world. So, either God doesn’t know about the evil, in which case he is not all knowing, and thus not God; or he is incapable of preventing it, and thus not all powerful, and thus not God; or he is unwilling to prevent it, in which case he is not good, and thus not God. Therefore, the existence of evil proves that God cannot exist.”

The problem with all of this lies in the definition of “good” and “evil”.