A Prayer Of St. Francis

Lord, make me an instrument of Thy peace;
where there is hatred, let me sow love;
where there is injury, pardon;
where there is doubt, faith;
where there is despair, hope;
where there is darkness, light;
and where there is sadness, joy.
O Divine Master,
grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled as to console;
to be understood, as to understand;
to be loved, as to love;
for it is in giving that we receive,
it is in pardoning that we are pardoned,
and it is in dying that we are born to Eternal Life.
Amen.

Gender Confusion and Modern Controversies

All of us are familiar with the gender-neutral agenda that the culture pushes (though it's certainly not limited to America). But can it be linked with things like abortion and homosexuality, two of the biggest controversies we face in our time? With homosexuality it's not difficult to see how what is normally associated with natural attraction and desire for intimacy/commitment with the opposite gender is traded for something that is replacing it with the same gender. With abortion, arguably the main reason that women seek abortions is that they don't want their life to be encumbered by a child at the time of their pregnancy, usually for the sake of wanting to have a "brighter future," "choosing" things like prioritizing a career, wanting to finish college, move up on the corporate ladder, or any number of things that they view as more important than raising a child. Certainly there is more that should have been prevented on her part before the pregnancy occurred, but the issue here is that it is so ingrained for a woman to look out for herself in the financial sense that she views her role as independent and as the provider for herself instead of having a depended mindset on someone who will commit to her in holy marriage.

The Bible has such clearly defined roles for men and women that it's a wonder sometimes to me that churches simply don't emphasize what they are. Would abortion be as much of an issue if churches in America taught that marriage is something that young men/women should be moving towards (at least the majority of people) instead of looking at it like it's optional? Would aboirtion be as big of an issue if men were taught to be the provider of their household and women to be keepers at home, as opposed to not intruding on people's personal goals of being self-sufficient (another thing the culture teaches)? I would say no. Too often men are caught off guard by the weight of responsibility in terms of leading and being the one who is depended on in so many ways, and women do not hear about the importance of what it means to be a Proverbs 31 woman and the joys that come with it (far more than they will ever get in prioritizing a career). Now this does serve more as a preventitive model. Obviously there are many people in a situation that does not fully lend itself to this pattern (e.g. an abandoned spouse left to raise her kids, which is really the man's atrocity in this case). I'll try to post on that in the future. But it's still high time that we as Christians lived out our roles as male and female.

This topic has been on my mind so much that it seems good to at least post on it more frequently, and specifically to link articles that deal with this topic of gender roles. Obviously, the end goal is not to merely point out the cultural flaws, but to glorify God and follow His plan for our lives. Nothing can bring more satisfaction or fulfillment. But we need to help each other out in this. We need to embrace what God has revealed to us as what is best. The end result will be transformed families, being good stewards of what the Lord has gifted us with, and being a brighter light to the world that is quickly crumbling around us.

Image from http://www.lofitribe.com/

Copyright 2006-2009 Shawn Anthony. All rights are reserved.

Debbie Maken on Singleness

Recently, my brother has been showing me a few things from Debbie Maken, a writer and wife who wrote the book, "Getting Serious About Getting Married." She offers a lot of encouraging and challenging words on the subject, and is worth hearing out for any singles in their 20s and 30s who think about marriage regularly. Here is an interview with her on Premier TV sharing good principles on this subject (though it is directed toward women, but men can definitely learn from it too):

http://player26.narrowstep.tv/nsp.aspx?player=Premier2&void=48451

Cheap books!

Canon Press, which puts out books by Douglas Wilson and Peter Leithart (to name just a couple guys), has a bunch of books on sale for $1-$3 a piece until May 8. Check it out!
http://www.canonpress.org/shop/

The Bible as Food?

George Muller, the well-known Christian who lived a life of poverty and with God's help built a huge orphanage in England, has an interesting quote regarding the Bible. He said, "It is as plain to me as anything, that the first thing the child of God has to do morning by morning is to obtain food for his inner man. As the outward man is not fit for work for any length of time, except we take food, and as this is one of the first things we do in the morning, so it should be with the inner man. We should take food for that, as every one must allow."

He goes on to specify what that food is: "Now what is the food for the inner man: not prayer, but the Word of God: and here again not the simple reading of the Word of God, so that it only passes through our minds, just as water runs through a pipe, but considering what we read, pondering over it, and applying it to our hearts."

This is quite a picture is it not? And yet it is not that foreign to the Scriptures themselves: "It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh is of no avail. The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life." (John 6:63). Our spiritual sustenance as Christians depends on these words in the Scriptures. It also says, "Oh how I love your law! It is my meditation all the day." (Psalm 119:97). They are to be read, remembered, meditated on, and applied. We eat multiple times a day to stay nourished, so why should we think this is any different? We should be memorizing Scriptures that are especially applicable to our life, and reading through the Bible regularly in a disciplined and intentional manner, making sure we are not just hearers (or mere readers) but doers of the Word. This does not make personal Bible reading a substitute for bringing ourselves under the preaching of God's Word, since (as a previous blog entry alluded to) shepherds have a charge by Christ to, "Feed my sheep." (John 21:17). But it must be a big part of one's regular diet so that he may not be looking to his flesh to be fed, which the verse above said is "of no avail" (or as the NASB version says, "the flesh profits nothing"). So let me ask you, are you regularly feeding on God's Word?

Photo from: http://lbcpastor.wordpress.com/2007/11/15/our-view-of-thanksgiving/

"No Longer a Christian Nation"

President Obama has repeatedly stated in his speeches that "America is no longer a Christian nation". That is an interesting phrase, no doubt. He has said it a little differently in his recent debate in Turkey ("We don't consider ourselves a Christian nation"), but it is essentially the same. What does he mean by this though? Looking at the context of the first statement, he says that we are a nation of Jews and Muslims and Buddhists and nonbelievers (though he did not specify what these nonbelievers do not believe in).

One question comes to mind though. Why does he say that we are no longer a Christian nation? Certainly there were other religions present before president Obama became president and
even before he was born. Unitarianism has been around since the 19th (or maybe even the 18th) century, which holds that all faiths are equal, which is very different from Christianity. Judaism has been around for quite a long time too. Anyone can see that there are a bunch of different religions existing in America today. So why would the president say this?

It seems to me that he is trying to be as inclusive as he can to other religions. Don't get me wrong, civility in the public square is important. We (particularly as Christians) must be quick to listen and slow to speak. We must also be patient and longsuffering. But just how far can one accept others ideas? More importantly, what kind of direction does the president want to go in?

It's interesting how he singles out Christians in his multiple addresses. I don't think that's just because other countries think of us as a Christian nation, though I'm sure that's part of it. Our country has Christian principles, and the president has vocally proven that he intends not to preserve or uphold them with the proposals he wants to make (and we should pray that he would do otherwise). In the most blatant sense, he has said that he wants to sign the FOCA, the Freedom Of Choice Act, which would effectively overturn any pro-life legislation in all 50 states, legalize partial-birth abortion, and force hospitals (including faith-based ones) to have their nurses and doctors perform abortions. He has also been going very far in his outreach to Muslims, bowing to the king of Sudan (which is not a small thing) and saying things like "The United States is not, and never will be, at war with Islam." (I will defer to Dr. Mohler's blog for anyone interested in a good analysis of this statement http://www.albertmohler.com/blog_read.php?id=3579). And the proposed idea to socialize medicine will make for doctors getting paid much less and customers getting treated much worse (e.g. much longer waiting lists for surgeries).

The Constitution is currently set on Christian principles (and is quite exclusive): "We hold these truths to be Self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator (excluding the principled belief of 'nonbelievers') with certain inalienable rights, that among these are life (excluding abortion), liberty (excluding Islam's fundamental principle of submission of all nations to Muslim law) and the pursuit of happiness (excluding socialism's forcing our happiness to be defined by the government, not the individual)." President Obama and even the American people at large can freely choose to change these Christian principles, but it may be the last free choice they make.

Happy Belated Resurrection Sunday

HE IS RISEN! HE IS RISEN INDEED!

Then I looked, and I heard around the throne and the living creatures and the elders the voice of many angels, numbering myriads of myriads and thousands of thousands, saying with a loud voice, "Worthy is the Lamb who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing!" And I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and in the sea, and all that is in them, saying, "To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be blessing and honor and glory and might forever and ever!" And the four living creatures said, "Amen!" and the elders fell down and worshiped.