The Human Rights Commission of New Mexico ruled on Wednesday that an evangelical Christian photographer discriminated against a lesbian couple because he refused a job to photograph the couple’s same-sex commitment ceremony. The commission ordered Elaine and Jon Huenins, owners of Elane Photography in Albuquerque, N.M., to pay the lesbian couple $6,600 in attorney fees.
Waynesville town officials told a local church on Monday to take down an anti-liquor display featuring a car demolished in a deadly wreck because it broke local sign rules. The N.C. Highway Patrol even got involved, sending a trooper by twice to tell church leaders that the display in front of their building would be towed if it wasn’t moved from the public right of way.
He is risen! It was one thing that Jesus was crucified for all the word’s sins. It is another that He rose from the dead. By Jesus’ act of offering up His life on Calvary’s cross, our sins can be forgiven. The fact that He rose again after the crucifixion shows us that we too can have new life.
A ruling by a California appeals court that parents “do not have a constitutional right to home-school their children” drew harsh criticism from religious conservatives on Friday, one of whom said the decision makes tens of thousands of parents into criminals – “the equivalent to drug dealers or pick-pockets.”
The Word of God is full of promises and blessings. Its pages contain the plan of salvation and allow us to see God’s grace, His mercy, and His everlasting loving-kindness. It is a book of commandments and instruction. It tells us of what is to come that we may prepare and of what has already been done so we may learn from past mistakes. With all that said, we cannot overlook the indisputable fact that the Word of God is also a book of war. It is a book that is full of blood.
If you have been in a church for any length of time, you have no doubt seen or experienced first hand a crisis. Things like the pastor retiring, interpersonal conflict among members, moral failure of church leaders and even changing the color of the carpet can lead to a crisis. While such crisis situations will come, the real test is how will the church handle them. Is there a plan in place or do most churches just try to cope with them as they occur?
We have all done it – made excuses as to why we might not attend any particular church service – whether we have actually acted on them or not. My pastor recently presented a humorous look at what a church might do in order to provide no excuse to miss church. They’d hold a special service called “No Excuse Sunday” which might look something like this.
I came across an interesting article today where author John Shore had compiled a list of statements wherein non-Christians, in their own words and in a casual, straight-ahead, first-person style, say what they think of Christians in general and specifically how they feel about the dynamic wherein Christians try to convert them. These statements reveal that those of us who call ourselves Christians may be sending the wrong message to unbelievers.
We have to go where the people in need are at so why not a bar? Crosswalk reports on an original story by the Patriot-News that Chuck Kish, a senior pastor at the Bethel Assembly of God in Carlisle, is launching a program at the Market Cross Pub next month to put chaplains in bars. They will not be there to preach on the sins of excessive drinking nor to evangelize but rather to offer help to people who want it.
Two stories in the news of late have really left a bad taste in my mouth. The first involves a radical Baptist church in Kansas who protested the actor, Heath Ledger’s memorial service with signs claiming he had died and is in Hell because he played a gay character in “Brokeback Mountain.” The second story involves Christian groups who gathered for a demonstration and prayer vigil outside the headquarters of ESPN over their disapproval with how the television network.
