“Political controversies are always conflicts between sinners, and not between righteous men and sinners.”
The eradication of Christianity in Iraq
Kirsten Powers reports:
Photo Credit: Religious News Service
Human rights lawyer Nina Shea described the horror in Mosul to me: “(The Islamic State) took the Christians’ houses, took the cars they were driving to leave. They took all their money. One old woman had her life savings of $40,000, and she said, ‘Can I please have 100 dollars?’, and they said no. They took wedding rings off fingers, chopping off fingers if they couldn’t get the ring off.”
“We now have 5,000 destitute, homeless people with no future,” Shea said. “This is a crime against humanity.”
For the first time in 2,000 years, Mosul is devoid of Christians.
Pray for the Christians in Iraq.
Legends
One of my favorite vocalists, the incomparable Leontyne Price. I only heard her at the end of her career, and the voice was glorious. This early recording captures well the gleaming beauty of her instrument.
There are singers... and then there are legends.
G. Handel: Atalanta, opera, HWV 35:
Act I: Care selve
Leontyne Price (sop)
Francesco Molinari-Pradelli (conducting)
RCA Red Seal
Lyrics
Care selve, ombre beate,
vengo in traccia del mio cor!
Beloved forests, joyous shadows:
I come in search of my heart.
Bibliotheca
I'm more than a little excited about this new publishing event. I'm also more than a little heartened to see and hear the passion this creative man has not just for the Bible, but for providing scripture to people in a form which heightens the enjoyment of it as sacred literature and not just scattered proof-texts..
Quotable
““Man is not a rational animal, he is a rationalizing animal””
Quotable
“The law of harvest is to reap more than you sow. Sow an act, and you reap a habit. Sow a habit and you reap a character. Sow a character and you reap a destiny.”
Augustine on Love
“Whoever thinks he understands divine scripture or any part of it, but whose interpretation does not build up the twofold love of God and neighbor, has not really understood it. Whoever has drawn from scripture an interpretation that does fortify this love, but who is later proven not to have found the meaning intended by the author of the passage, is deceived to be sure, but not in a harmful way, and he is guilty of no untruth at all.”
Disciple the parents, preserve the children
Photo Credit: forbes.com
Much is made of Millennials leaving the Church with many Christian publications hyper-ventilating (and many secular ones crowing) that a huge wave of Millennial Christians leaving the Church signals its impending demise in the west. But what if it's not Millennial Christians who are leaving, but instead only Millennials who were nominal Christians, sometimes called Cultural Christians? These are young people who were raised in the church as children but who never fully committed to Jesus with the whole of their lives.
Recent studies suggest this is indeed the case. The bulk of Millennials leaving the Church were not wholly committed, nor did they come from homes where the parents were wholly committed to their faith. In fact, of Millennials abandoning the faith with which they identified as children, "Only 11% of those who abandon their childhood Christian faith say they had a very strong faith as a child and came from a home where a vibrant faith was taught and practiced."
Richard Ross of Theological Matters (a blog of Southwestern Theological Seminary) surveys recent data regarding Millennials and their faith and observes,
Homes modeling lukewarm faith do not create enduring faith in children. Homes modeling vibrant faith do. “This is not a crisis of faith, per se, but of parenting,” the Focus on the Family study noted.
Christian Smith, sociologist and author of Souls in Transition, concludes from his research,
Religious outcomes in emerging adulthood are not random happenstances about which all bets are off after age 18. Instead, they often flow quite predictably from formative religious influences that shape persons’ lives in early years. … The religious commitments, practices and investments made during childhood and the teenage years, by parents and others in families and religious communities, matter—they make a difference.
Several applications for ministry clearly present themselves. Ross lists three of the more obvious ones:
- Churches clearly teaching the Bible (conservative evangelical churches) are growing while those that do not (mainline denominations) declined. Young adults want “uncompromising truth” that “calls them to something beyond themselves.”
- Homes with serious faith tend to produce children who carry faith into adulthood. Christians should create homes where children “witness a vibrant faith that’s lived out honestly and intentionally.” Strong families produce lasting faith.
- Millennials want serious, substantive faith—not entertainment and theatrics. “Truth trumps trappings,” the study said.
One is forced to conclude that churches that do not intentionally disciple parents in their faith are risking losing future generations, no matter how good those churches' children and youth ministries are. Children's ministries and youth ministries are good and important, but a church cannot ignore the discipleship of parents and put all its hope in other ministries to raise up a generation of committed young Christians. That's not effective ministry; that's triage to try and stop the hemorrhaging.
Light & Shadows
“People full of shadows may also be full of a light that causes them.”
Back to where I belong
When I find myself down in the weeds of church controversy or theological disagreement, I find it helpful to watch this short video. It's pure gold, and brings my heart back to where it belongs being centered on Jesus.