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According to the Dictionary of Bible Themes on Bible Gateway, fathers have a responsibility to love, instruct, and discipline their children in the ways of the Lord. In return they are to be honored and obeyed by their children. [Browse the Gifts for Fathers section in the Bible Gateway Store] Psalm 103:13 (NIV) As a […]The post 6 Bible Verses on the Responsibilities of Fathers appeared first on Bible Gateway Blog.
- 3 days ago 17 Jun 21, 5:29am -

This is the one-hundred-sixty-first lesson in author and pastor Mel Lawrenz’ How to Live the Bible series. If you know someone or a group who would like to follow along on this journey through Scripture, they can get more info and sign up to receive these essays via email here. “The LORD had said to […]The post How to Live the Bible — Blessings for All appeared first on Bible Gateway Blog.
- 3 days ago 16 Jun 21, 8:09pm -

By Jess Connolly When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, what is mankind that you are mindful of them, human beings that you care for them? You have made them a little lower than the angels and crowned them with glory […]The post Hope and High-Waisted Jeans appeared first on Bible Gateway Blog.
- 3 days ago 16 Jun 21, 10:00am -

Whether you pronounce it distinctly “N-A-S-B” or informally “naz-bee,” since its completion in the 1970s following 18 years of work, the New American Standard Bible (NASB) is widely embraced as the gold standard for the formal equivalence Bible translation philosophy, the method of rendering English text word-for-word from the original biblical languages as much as […]The post The NASB 2020 Bible Translation: An Interview with Pike Lambeth appeared first on Bible Gateway Blog.
- 4 days ago 15 Jun 21, 11:51am -

Thomas Nelson, a division of HarperCollins Christian Publishing, announces the publishing of the Maclaren Series: Large Print Verse-by-Verse Reference Bible (Thomas Nelson, 2021) in the New King James Version (NKJV) and the King James Version (KJV) Bible translations. “The Maclaren Series presents the Bible in a beautiful format using a rich blue tone as a […]The post Thomas Nelson Releases the Maclaren Series Large Print Reference Bible in KJV and NKJV appeared first on Bible Gateway Blog.
- 5 days ago 14 Jun 21, 1:12pm -

In an interview with The Christian Post, chart-topping Christian artist Jeannie Ortega Law shares her powerful testimony and reveals why she's passionate about helping other believers discern spiritual activity affecting their own lives.
- 2 hours ago 19 Jun 21, 4:48pm -

A Christian group in the U.K. has said it is alarming that the government is being urged to include in its proposed "conversion therapy" ban even “gentle non-coercive prayer” to help individuals overcome unwanted sexual attractions or gender identity confusion.
- 5 hours ago 19 Jun 21, 2:12pm -

An auction house in the U.K. has withdrawn a leather-bound Coptic Bible from auction after the Ethiopian embassy in London identified it as one of the artifacts looted by British forces from the Ethiopian empire’s fortress at Magdala during the colonial era and requested its repatriation.
- 6 hours ago 19 Jun 21, 1:03pm -

Dozens of African and African-origin women observed the International Day for the Elimination of Sexual Violence in Conflict on Saturday by speaking out against an ongoing campaign of sexual violence that's at “a level of cruelty beyond comprehension” in the war-torn and predominantly Christian region of Tigray in northern Ethiopia.
- 6 hours ago 19 Jun 21, 12:48pm -

May Juneteenth remind us that Hope is never in vain—even when things seem impossible. Keep holding tenaciously to your faith. Though the reward of Hope is often delayed, truth and freedom will make their way and break through.
- 6 hours ago 19 Jun 21, 12:39pm -

What an attention-starved son learned while reconstructing the life of his distant dad.Our family is a bit raw this week. Packing your whole life into a U-Haul and leaving behind everything called “home” has a way of putting everyone on edge. We moved several times during my childhood, but this was my first time doing it as a father. I remember moving to South Florida in the third grade—the tears, the uncertainty, the upheaval. It’s been hard to watch a familiar sorrow swell in the eyelids of my own kids.As fathers, we dream of passing down wisdom, character, and faith, but so often we end up leaving our children an inheritance of pain, hurt, and unfulfilled longing. In his latest offering, Lament for a Father: The Journey to Understanding and Forgiveness, prolific author and longtime World magazine editor in chief Marvin Olasky reflects on this mixed blessing. “Many people … have unresolved conflicts with dads, living or dead,” he writes. “So do I.”Olasky styles the book as an elegy for his own dad, a father “simultaneously present and absent.” It’s a work so particularly about one father that it ends up being about every father.Who is to blame?Eight brief chapters piece together a mosaic of Eli Olasky, a son of immigrants who grew up in a Jewish ward of Malden, Massachusetts, just outside Boston. Using the present tense, the author narrates the life of a school principal with a Harvard degree who settles into a life of comic books, bridge, frequent job turnover, and disappointing his wife. Aloof and stoic, he shows a mysterious lack of ambition.A sense of melancholy weighs heavily over the entire book. The discoveries the younger Olasky digs out of Harvard archives, newspaper clippings, and family photo albums give his prose the yellowed ...Continue reading...
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A Christian restauranteur relies on God while navigating his first major layoffs, angry customers, closures, and the continued challenges brought on by COVID-19. When COVID-19 started to spread last year, none of us knew how dramatically or how long this virus would affect our lives.As a restaurant owner, I was forced to make critical decisions during the early weeks of lockdown, when people were confused, scared, and trying to make sense of conflicting information about the threat of the virus.I watched sales drop at each of our locations anywhere from 60 percent to 90 percent as we shifted from dine-in services to carry-out and delivery only. As a result, I had to lay off employees, something I had never been forced to do apart from closing a location.As a Christian, I’ve always been open about how my faith drives everything I do and shapes how I run my business. The decision to dismiss employees was agonizing, but I wanted to come up with the most ethical and moral way to care for those who worked for us. My commitment to leading and caring for people biblically didn’t let up just because times got tough—in fact, I had to lean on God for guidance and hope more than ever.What’s the most gracious way to cut employees in the middle of an economic crisis and a pandemic? None of us had been through this before, and there were no easy answers. We made sure to keep on the payroll a few individuals who needed to maintain health insurance to care for serious medical issues. We created a three-tier list of employees, ranked by skill level and attitude. We ended up having to lay off those on the bottom tier; thankfully we never had to move to the second tier.But I wanted to help those I had to let go. I looked for ways to offer support even after they were no longer on my payroll. I emailed them on a regular basis with information about ways to file for unemployment ...Continue reading...
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20 Truths from Christine Caine's latest book on how avoid drifting spiritually.(1.) “God knows the frailty of our humanity. He has been contending with it ever since the fall. He knows how effortless our drifting is.” (p.7)(2.) “Neglecting a weak link can bake all the difference in our staying anchored or not. That’s why God wants us to check our links…so we can stay connected to Jesus. When we find ourselves not where we expected to be, he isn’t the one who moved.” (p.13)(3.) “You know you’ve drifted when…You stop trusting and you start controlling.” (p.15)(4.) “Trusting God takes intentionality and perpetual, repeated choosing. It isn’t passive, but active—and our trust is tested with time and trials.” (p.19)(5.) “When we experience the gap between what is and what will be, that’s when trust is most needed.” (p.38)(6.) “When we take our eyes off Jesus, all we can see is the wound that’s hurting or the people who inflicted that wound. Then we start seeping— and drifting. But when we look up and look to Jesus, keeping our eyes on him, we begin to heal.” (p.57)(7.) “You know you’ve drifted when…You stop wondering and you start wandering.” (p.61)(8.) “God wants us having the right conversations with the right people, so we land in the right place. Especially when our questions cause us to question God.” (p.71)(9.) “There will always be things we can’t figure out, can’t understand, and may never know the answer to, but our worst day with Jesus will always be better than our best day without him.” (p.83)(10.) “You know you’ve drifted when…You stop praying and you start talking.” (p.85)(11.) ...Continue reading...
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Acknowledging the example of African American Christians to steward liberation for the church’s mission.Holidays and missions are two things Christians and churches celebrate. We stand proudly on Memorial Day as we remember the sacrifice of soldiers. We listen to sermons on gratitude and praise God for His blessings on Thanksgiving. We watch videos about the legacy and impact of Lottie Moon and praise God for the fruitfulness of those on the mission field.By now, many of us have heard of the holiday Juneteenth, though many Christians still don’t celebrate the day or recognize the fruitful mission work birthed out of the freedom of African American slaves. Though the liberation of the enslaved people is the only reason we need to celebrate Juneteenth, there is much to commemorate. I propose that we should also commemorate this day to recognize the missional fervor displayed by freed African Americans and the way they stewarded their freedom to continue a Christian legacy of fulfilling the Church’s mission.What is Juneteenth?In the midst of the Civil War, President Lincoln enacted the Emancipation Proclamation on January 1, 1863, which declared enslaved people in the Confederate states as free. Tragically, cities like Galveston, Texas utilized legal barriers to withhold the news of freedom from enslaved people. However, on June 19, 1865, the day is known today as Juneteenth, two months after the ending of the Civil War on April 9th, General Gordon Grainger brought the news of freedom to the enslaved people in Galveston. For years, freed black men and women and black enslaved people fought vigorously for the liberation of black people, and finally, they were free. To be clear, many social, economic, and legal barriers would come during Reconstruction and eventually Jim Crow that suppressed the full freedom of African ...Continue reading...
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When Darrick Rizzo was 18, his girlfriend of three years told him she was pregnant. With the couple on the cusp of their college careers and unprepared to parent, his girlfriend chose to pursue adoption. Despite opposing the decision, Rizzo ultimately acquiesced, hoping to offer the best life possible for his son.“I was willing to do anything for my boy, even if that meant listening to his mom and choosing an open adoption,” wrote Rizzo in his book, The Open Adoption: A Birth Father’s Journey.Rizzo was committed to his role as a birth father and sent letters and gifts to his son. Years later, he learned his child had never received his correspondence. Despite a desire to be an involved birth father, his efforts were thwarted.Whether or not they make the effort, the reality is that many birth fathers end up absent from the lives of their adopted children. And until recently, the relationship between adoptees and their birth fathers had not been given too much consideration in the context of the adoption conversation.But as social media and family genealogy tracing allow more children to find and connect with their biological dads, Christians involved in adoption are thinking about the significance of such relationships.“We’re starting to see a little more discussion around birth fathers, where historically they’ve been left out of the picture,” said Cam Lee, an adoptee and a Christian who now works as a therapist with adoptive families.Most adoptions feature communication exclusively with birth mothers. Lee has noticed that adoptees on social media are speaking out more about their interest in their other parent too.For Christians, these new conversations around birth fathers represent ...Continue reading...
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It certainly was an interesting way to start a podcast (click here to tune that in) about press coverage of the 2021 national meeting of the Southern Baptist Convention.Here’s the gist of what “Crossroads” host Todd Wilken wanted to know: If journalists were going to write that the Rev. Mike Stone — who lost his bid to become SBC president — was “right-wing” and “ultraconservative,” then why didn’t they pin “left-wing” and “ultraliberal” labels on Bishop-elect Megan Rohrer, the first trans/queer/gender fluid bishop in the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America?Think about it this way: Stone and the new Conservative Baptist Network — many flew pirate flags — set out to attack the already conservative (theologically speaking) leadership of the Southern Baptist Convention, saying that it was not conservative ENOUGH on several issues. In other words, the goal was to move the SBC further right and away from recent pronouncements by the convention.Meanwhile, Bishop-elect Rohrer is an open advocate of the CURRENT teachings of the ELCA. In the context of this denomination and its doctrines, Rohrer is part of the ruling class.Now, is Rohrer “ultraliberal” in the context of American culture? How about liberal mainline Protestantism? How about other Lutheran bodies? Was Stone “ultraconservative” in the context of today’s SBC?You can see the struggle here. Are journalists supposed to label religious leaders in the context of the wider culture or of their own flocks? I have argued that this depends: I go with the “flock” framing when discussing news events that are taking place inside a given “flock.”As I argued the other day (#SBC21: Press wrestles with Twitter-niche labels as Southern Baptists choose a new leader), most of the religion-beat pros who gathered in Nashville tried to be very cautious when describing the various groups under the conservative SBC umbrella. The exception was the New York Times, which offered a kind of acid-flashback return to the SBC civil wars of the early 1980s.The key was the labeling in this early headline — “Southern Baptists Narrowly Head Off Conservative Takeover” — and then this overture:
- 1 day ago 18 Jun 21, 3:59pm -

One of the rules of journalism is to make clear why a reader should care what you’re writing about.One way to make that happen is to choose a sympathetic figure. Personal stories are always easier to grasp than abstract concepts such as teachings, doctrines and beliefs. This principle has been used brilliantly by movements seeking to push modernist ideas, such as gay marriage. It’s one thing to oppose the idea; it’s another to oppose two human beings right in front of you.Those of us who covered the Episcopal Church’s slide from an influential denomination of 3.6 million members into a fast-declining church of 1.8 million saw this principle used repeatedly in the 1990s and 2000s. Whenever the denomination wanted to push some novel sexual idea, it put forth stories of the courageous individuals who indulged in such practices. Such folks were easier to like than the seemingly stodgy types who were bent on keeping to the old ways.All of which is why the Chicago Tribune chose a 24-year-old lesbian who was hounded by Moody Bible Institute administrators to be the face of a new lawsuit. An engaging dissident with a compelling story was far more interesting than the traditional institution she was fighting. The story begins: Megan Steffen had completed all her college coursework at Moody Bible Institute and was at home with her parents in Michigan, waiting to graduate, when she got an email from the school, telling her an administrator needed to talk with her. She agreed to a meeting via Zoom, where she learned that faculty members at the conservative Christian college had raised objections to her graduation.Which was in 2020, by the way. Then the two administrators on the Zoom call began asking questions, among them: Had Steffen ever had romantic or sexual relations with a woman? Had she ever dated men? Did she envision dating women in the future?
- 2 days ago 17 Jun 21, 3:55pm -

If you have followed mainstream coverage of religion (and politics) in recent decades, you know that many journalists tend to make liberal use of the vague term “moderate.”This has certainly been true of coverage of warfare inside the Southern Baptist Convention.Since “liberal” is kind of scary, journalists have long divided the SBC into “moderate” and “conservative” camps. With very few exceptions, your typical “moderate” Southern Baptist would be a “fundamentalist” in the world of mainline Protestantism.Thus, in the great SBC civil war of 1979 and the years thereafter, the term “moderate” came to mean Southern Baptists that mainstream journalists thought were acceptable. These were the folks in the white hats who backed abortion rights, women’s ordination and, at first, were silent or vague on LGBTQ issues. Most of all, they were the enemies of those Southern Baptists who fit under the Religious Right umbrella.With that in mind, consider the tweaked double-decker headline on The New York Times report after the fireworks at the SBC national meetings in Nashville: Southern Baptists Narrowly Head Off Ultraconservative Takeover Ed Litton, a moderate pastor from Alabama, won a high-stakes presidential election with the potential to reshape the future of the country’s largest Protestant denomination.The original headline stuck with the old-school “moderate” vs. “conservative” language.The leadership of the Conservative Baptist Network may have been sad about their candidate, the Rev. Mike Stone of Georgia, losing the election. But they had to be elated at how the Times described this event in terms that meshed with their views on SBC life. Here is the top of that report: NASHVILLE — In a dramatic showdown on Tuesday, Southern Baptists elected a moderate pastor from Alabama as their next president, narrowly heading off an attempted takeover by the denomination’s insurgent right wing.
- 3 days ago 16 Jun 21, 7:05pm -

THE QUESTION:Would proof that intelligent life exists on distant planets overturn the Christian religion?THE RELIGION GUY'S ANSWER:Religious skeptics say very likely yes.Why? They argue that given the unimaginably vast number of planets throughout space, there seem to be heavy odds that life would have evolved on some or many of them. If so, we earthlings no longer stand at the center of God's plan for the cosmos, and that overturns the biblical viewpoint.The answer is “no,” according to the consistent view of Christian thinkers who've pondered this since ancient times. The Bible naturally focuses on homo sapiens, not theoretical species elsewhere.Space is red hot just now. It's Roswell 1947 all over again. The latest fuzzy videos and reports from the Pentagon suggest something may be going on up there that's not merely the stuff of science fiction novels. Are we no longer alone in the universe? Are aliens from another galaxy spying on us from those UFOs (Unidentified Flying Objects)? Is SETI (the Search for Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence) poised for its devoutly desired breakthrough?Even strict Bible literalist Ken Ham of Answers in Genesis sees a chance because "the Bible does not state whether life exists elsewhere in the universe," though he "strongly" suspects it does not.University of Rochester astrophysicist Adam Frank pooh-poohs the current UFO buzz because the real story is that super telescopes may well bring us proof of life by other means, for instance spotting light gleaming on the dark sides of distant planets. He also poses a common-sense objection. If we're really being visited by aliens "why don't they just land on the White House lawn and announce themselves?"That "I" in SETI is all-important.
- 3 days ago 16 Jun 21, 1:00pm -

This is a week that could change Catholic life in this country. That is not an exaggeration when you consider what the bishops will be debating.Barring an intervention from Pope Francis himself, the U.S. bishops will consider, and vote on Thursday, a plan for a document about Holy Communion that includes denying the sacrament to politicians who repeatedly support policies advocating abortion rights. That includes President Joe Biden, only the country’s second Catholic commander in chief ever.The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops will gather virtually for their three-day Spring General Assembly starting tomorrow. The public sessions are available on the USCCB website for all to watch. While the bishops will have a busy agenda ahead of them, the biggest issue — in terms of news coverage — is this question of whether the sacrament of Communion can be denied to Catholic politicians with a history of backing abortion rights.What can we expect from the news coverage?This has been an issue that was pushed to the forefront by many bishops following Biden’s election last November. This is an issue that has been covered by both the mainstream press as well as Catholic media. The arguments and decisions made this week will have a lasting impact on Catholicism and those who practice it. The opinions many will form this week will come directly from the coverage they read.Here is the debate in a nutshell: Some bishops want politicians who identify as Catholic to hold public policy positions that are not at odds with church teaching on abortion, marriage, LGBTQ rights and other issues in moral theology. Others argue that these politicians can hold political positions that clash with the church — while expressing private support for church teachings — and continue to attend Mass and receive Holy Communion.That this division also happen to match with how these Catholics vote will dominate the coverage. it also comes at a time when the Supreme Court will take up a major abortion rights challenge.
- 4 days ago 15 Jun 21, 3:55pm -

My dad was an incredible baseball pitcher, taking his career all the way up to the minor leagues. Growing up, we spent many late afternoons out in the yard throwing a ball back and forth. Catching my dad’s pitches from his left-handed throws became second nature for me. But as the years went by, there’s a different kind of catch I began to field from my dad.There’s an old saying that goes, “More is caught than taught.” I had a front-row seat to see how to live a life of integrity and honor by watching my dad’s life. 
- 5 hours ago 19 Jun 21, 2:00pm -

North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper vetoed gun-rights legislation on Friday that would allow parishioners at more churches to be armed, marking the second year in a row that he’s blocked the idea.The legislation affirms that people going to religious services at a location where private schools or some charter schools also meet can carry handguns in full view or under clothing if they have a concealed weapons permit. There would be other limits. 
- 6 hours ago 19 Jun 21, 1:00pm -

A city-funded foster and adoption agency that opposes same-sex marriage on religious grounds can be exempted from serving such couples, the Supreme Court ruled on Thursday.In a unanimous ruling, the justices once again showed they were receptive to claims by religious groups — in this case Catholic Social Services, which refuses to work with same-sex couples. The agency had contracted with the city of Philadelphia to screen potential foster parents.Beginning in 2018, the city of Philadelphia ended its contract with CSS, claiming that the organization violated a city ordinance banning discrimination. 
- 23 hours ago 18 Jun 21, 8:05pm -

One of the hot-button items expected to be on the agenda when Southern Baptists met for their annual meeting this week was critical race theory.About a quarter of the 40 resolutions submitted to express the views of the more than 15,000 gathered in Nashville were related to CRT, race or racial reconciliation.But, in the end, the resolution the committee chose to bring to the floor for a vote did not mention CRT, a controversial, academic movement seeking to explain issues of race and justice. 
- 2 days ago 17 Jun 21, 9:22pm -

The Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) is taking bold new steps to address its alleged mishandling of abuse, and yesterday voted to set up a task force to deal with the issue. At the same time, a leading abuse advocate is raising serious concerns about the firm the SBC Executive Committee has hired to investigate abuse issues—Guidepost Solutions.In a series of recent tweets, author and seminary professor, Wade Mullen revealed several instances where Guidepost Solutions has not represented the best interests of victims, but instead has protected powerful clients. 
- 2 days ago 17 Jun 21, 3:31pm -

Kanakuk Ministries has demanded that the owners of a website called FactsAboutKanakuk.com “cease & desist” from activities that Kanakuk’s attorney says “violates the law in several areas.”
- 1 day ago 18 Jun 21, 3:31pm -

A Catholic, city-funded foster and adoption agency that adheres to a biblical definition of marriage and chooses not to place children with same-sex couples can be exempted from serving such couples, the Supreme Court ruled on Thursday (June 17).
- 1 day ago 18 Jun 21, 2:41pm -

The nonprofit jobs sector is starting to show signs of recovery but has yet to regain hundreds of thousands of jobs lost during the pandemic, and the category encompassing jobs in religious fields is lagging behind.
- 1 day ago 18 Jun 21, 1:50pm -

In a hotly contested election decided by just over 500 votes, Alabama pastor Ed Litton was elected president of the Southern Baptist Convention.
- 1 day ago 18 Jun 21, 1:43pm -

J.D. Greear’s Legacy as Southern Baptist President: Grappling with Abuse, Pushing Diversity
- 1 day ago 18 Jun 21, 1:24pm -

“I have no positive to give you,” one son says. In a commentary, the Rev. Byron Thomas calls on white fathers to teach their sons about racial injustice, too.
- 2 days ago 17 Jun 21, 7:52pm -

Thanks to its Healthy Church Team, Emmaus United Methodist Church in Richmond, Virginia, attains 100% vaccination rate.
- 2 days ago 17 Jun 21, 3:19pm -

The Rev. Jacqui King, a longtime United Methodist leader, found a new ministry praying with strangers. Her experience can help people reconnect with God and each other as pandemic restrictions lift.
- 3 days ago 16 Jun 21, 4:33pm -

UMW, The Nyadire Connection and Harare East District combine efforts to assist vulnerable families, older adults and theology students.
- 4 days ago 15 Jun 21, 4:11pm -

This year’s massive ‘Brood X’ population of the flying, droning insects has in-spired sermons but also caused pastors to alter outdoor church services.
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