Homosexuality & Abortion

At The Journey Church, we have been teaching through a series called Counter-Culture: Living for Christ in a world that hates Him. It is a five week series, and we complete the last message this coming Sunday. 

The first week we spent time establishing the reality that everyone has a worldview and an ultimate authority. We talked about the different worldviews and authorities that exist, and outlined how and why Christians look to the Bible to inform and shape our worldview.
The second message focused on the accusation and charge against Christians of being judgmental and intolerant. We looked at what the Bible says about this and explored how we as Christians can be both vocal about truth and graceful in our approach. 

Our third and fourth messages in the series have been by far the most difficult and the most important. We have looked at the issues of homosexuality and abortion, two of the most controversial topics in our society today. We believe Christians need to know how to speak into our culture the gospel of truth on this subjects, but we believe there is a way in which we should do it. 

These two messages are some of the most important messages we have preached out our church and we would be pleased if they can serve to help you too. 

Here is the link for Week 3's message: Homosexuality and Christian Belief

Here is the link for Week 4's message: Abortion and Christian Belief

May God use these messages to sound the trumpet of truth in our world, equip the saints for engaging our culture, and display the triumphant grace and mercy of our Savior Jesus Christ.

Which of these messages have been most helpful to you? Why do you believe churches remain largely silent on these topics?

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Counter-Culture

We will be taking a break from our Ephesians series in September and have a 5 week topical series entitled: Counter-Culture. We have subtitled the series: living for Christ in a world that hates Him. It may sound like abrasive language, but we believe it represents the situation Christians face daily. The world is hostile toward Christians and to Christ. This should not be a shock to anyone.

Jesus sums up the reality of being hated by the world, and why that hatred exists:

"If the world hates you, know that it hated me before hate you. If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you." (John 15:18-19)

The purpose for the break is two-fold. First, we want to teach our church how to deal with the tension and strife they endure in our culture for being Christians. They are labeled everything from bigoted, intolerant, judgmental, homophobic, to numerous other things. Are these accurate descriptors of biblical Christians? We want to help our people work through those questions and issues.

The second purpose for the break, is we want to invite people from outside our church. We want this to be a short-term opportunity for people to investigate and hear from the Bible why Christians think, believe, and hold to the positions they do. This series is going to be a big invitation push to open the door for people to experience and be a part of our community.

Here is our plan for teaching through this series:

September 1st (Week 1) -- The Authority of the Believer: this message will deal with our starting place for our worldview and why this runs against the grain of our culture. However, everyone has an ultimate authority. We will explore the faulty foundations of any worldview not grounded in Scripture.

September 8th (Week 2) -- Judgmentalism: Christians are frequently accused of being judgmental toward others. This is largely because of our willingness to declare there are moral absolutes. There is right and wrong. The non-believers, even some professing Christians, will claim the Bible speaks against such actions. But is this true? What did Jesus say about this?

September 15th (Week 3) -- Homosexuality: Starting in week 3 we will begin hitting the main hot-button topics in our culture that Christians run against the current. In this lesson, we'll look at what the Bible teaches about homosexuality and how we should approach talking about this issue in the culture.

September 22nd (Week 4) -- Abortion: Is this more than a political issue? How should believers view abortion in a culture that argues for it as woman's choice and right to choose her own healthcare for her body? Should the healthcare of the child be neglected? Should the voice of the unborn child receive no support? We will dive deeper into this issue.

September 29th (Week 5) -- The Exclusivity of Jesus: If you want to see how against the grain our faith runs to the culture, just begin talking about Jesus being the ONLY way to salvation. This tenant, which is central to Christianity, is looked at with repulsion by a culture that believes in the equal validity of all faiths. Is Jesus the only way? What about those who never hear? Is Christianity exclusive? Is it wrong for it to be that way? We'll look at all of those questions and more to conclude the series.

We are excited about this series. I believe it is going to be helpful for our church in understanding how to speak about these issues to people around them.

I want to hear from you: What issues are we missing? Are there any topics that are pertinent enough to make the series that are not already mentioned?

A Chain-Smoking Pregnant Woman vs Abortion: Which is Morally Reprehensible?

I want to write briefly on something I was pondering recently on abortion. I want to address the fickle and subjective use of logic happening regarding abortion. Inevitably there will be someone who reads this and wants to immediately dismiss my argument because they will reference the very very very few abortions that happen to save the life of the mother. I am not arguing against that. I am addressing the abortions (which are the majority) in which only the child's life is in danger, because it has a mother and/or a father that does not want them, and does not want the responsibility of caring for them. This is about the inconsistent logic that continues to be displayed in our culture regarding abortion.

It is universally accepted that a pregnant woman who smokes cigarettes, abuses alcohol, or shoots up heroine is doing a morally reprehensible thing. It disgusts us that a woman carrying a child would do such things. I have never heard anyone excuse these behaviors as acceptable. 

However, I have some questions, particularly those in the pro-choice camp:

**shouldn't it be the woman's right to choose what kind of healthcare she provides herself?

**isn't it a woman's right to do whatever she wants, after all, it is her body?

**on what grounds would we argue that her actions (wild partying) are morally reprehensible? 

I hope you get the gist of my questions? These are the same questions asked by those who want to justify abortion. But doesn't the woman who may be abusing different substances while pregnant have the same case to make as the woman going to the abortion clinic? Instead of having rights over her body, the pregnant drug abuser, chain-smoker, or alcoholic is looked at as a monster. 

Now don't get me wrong, I believe it is absolutely morally reprehensible for a pregnant woman to be on drugs or alcohol while pregnant, but I also believe it is just as indefensible for her to walk down to the abortion clinic. It appears the logic of many in our culture is that a pregnant woman smoking crack, cigarettes, or getting drunk regularly is morally despicable, but a woman going to the abortion clinic is exercising her choice (rights). What is despicable is our vile logic. 

It is time for us to wake up to the gross inconsistencies of our culture. 

The Illogical Logic of Abortion

We have all been gripped the last several days by the news of the women and young child held captive in Cleveland, Ohio for the last decade. Ariel Castro, the perpetrator whose guilty of this heinous act, went beyond kidnapping on his ten year depraved joy ride. Castro reportedly raped these women at will, and forcefully aborted the babies in the wombs that he filled.

However, the irony of watching the news channels talk about this story, is that no focus is on these aborted children. Michelle Knight, one of the young women abducted, had at least five pregnancies aborted as a result of this barbaric act. This is a travesty. There are more than three victims in this story, there are at least eight victims, if not many more. Yet, when the news channels discuss and report what has happened, we do not hear the babies aborted referred to as victims. In fact, when Castro was charged, the charge of murder was missing from his rap sheet.

Here is my question: Why is the media, politicians, and advocacy groups not protesting that little to no focus is on these babies as victims in this crime, and why is Mr. Castro not being charged with their murder? 

There is only one answer: political reasons. For political purposes, the media is not focusing on the babies as victims. They are not outraged that Castro was not charged with their murder. Why not? Because they know that while the babies are victims and Castro is guilty of murder, if they say so, they will then face the question of why every abortion does not fall into this category. That is why! The illogical logic of abortion will quickly be exposed if they acknowledge what has happened in Cleveland, OH is a crime and the babies are victims. 

What is the difference between what happened in the dark corners of a basement in Cleveland and what happens in clinics on your local street corners? Some will say, "well, it is different because women who go to clinics WANT to have an abortion. These women in Cleveland DID NOT WANT an abortion. That is what makes it different." But this logic is terrible. We are saying, if you don't want your baby, it's legal to kill it and it's NOT murder? But if you want your baby, and someone else causes its death, then IT IS murder? Really? That is what marks the difference between a child living or dying these days, whether we want it or do not want it?

I am distraught over the mass genocide of babies in the womb. They cannot voice their rights. Someone has to stand up for them. Are we willing to quit standing in silence, afraid of the shame and ridicule? As a father of two, with one in my wife's womb now, I am disgusted that we have become a nation and culture that is okay with aborting unwanted humans. It reminds me of the German citizens in Nazi Germany, who sat by as millions of Jews were slaughtered around them. They may have been against it, but they did nothing to stop it. Is that what we have become?

Lord, have mercy on us.