Rick Warren in a Whirlwind by Mohler and Cool Christians

Mohler speaks to the current controversy about Rick Warren. Below, I have included a section toward the end of his blog post. The one word review of this article is … wow (more after the jump.)

I am not throwing Rick Warren to the wolves over this. He now finds himself in a whirlwind, and he will not be the last. Pastor after pastor and church after church will face a similar challenge in short order. No matter how cool you think you are or think that others think you are, the hour is coming when the issue of homosexuality — taken alone — will be the defining issue in coolness. If you accept the full normalization of homosexuality, you will be cool. If you do not, you are profoundly uncool, no matter how much good work you do nor how much love and compassion you seek to express.

Liberal Protestantism came to this conclusion long ago, and those churches desperately want to be considered cool by the elites. Having abandoned biblical authority, there is nothing to prevent them moving fast into coolness. The only barriers are outposts of conservative opposition, but they will not last long.

[From The High Cost of Being (and Staying) Cool -- Rick Warren in a Whirlwind]

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The Gospel According to Newsweek … Not Much Better than Jack’s Version

Albert Mohler does an excellent job refuting Lisa Miller’s article concerning the Bible and gay marriage. More quotes and my brief thoughts after the break. (Parenthesis and emphasis mine.)

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In this light she (the author) cites author Neil Elliott and his book, The Arrogance of Nations. Elliott, like other “progressive scholars,” suggests that the modern notion of sexual orientation is simply missing from the biblical worldview, and thus the biblical authors are not really talking about what we know as homosexuality at all. “Paul is not talking about what we call homosexuality at all,” as Miller quotes Elliott.

Of course, no honest reader of the biblical text will share this simplistic and backward conclusion. Furthermore, to accept this argument is to assume that the Christian church has misunderstood the Bible from its very birth — and that we are now dependent upon contemporary “progressive scholars” to tell us what Christians throughout the centuries have missed.

[From Turning the Bible on its Head -- Newsweek Goes for Gay Marriage]

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Of Christianists & Fascism: A Sign of Things to Come?

Albert Mohler believes that the gay backlash to harm and hurt Prop 8 supporters is possibly the “shape of things to come.” (more thoughts after the jump.)

The Los Angeles Times provides an eye-opening report into the response of Hollywood’s cultural liberals to the passage of Proposition 8. Reporters Rachel Abramowitz and Tina Daunt open their article with this question: “Should there be boycotts, blacklists, firings or de facto shunning of those who supported Proposition 8?”

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The response of Hollywood is the temptation to blacklist anyone who supported Proposition 8 and to eliminate or marginalize their influence in liberal Hollywood. This response deserves a close look, for it almost surely represents the shape of the future when it comes to the issue of gay marriage.

[From A Sign of Things to Come?]

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Backtrack to Saddleback by Albert Mohler

Albert Mohler writes honestly about how he was *not* excited about the event before hand but his opinion changed to a good degree afterward … (more and my thoughts after the jump)

With the press pushing the event as a “new face” for American evangelicals, I was not overly hopeful. Given the hype, I was positively unhopeful. But . . . the event turned to be quite worthwhile after all. I still have deep reservations about identifying the event so closely with a church, but the conversations really did get to urgently important and controversial issues, and Pastor Rick Warren handled the conversations with aplomb, demonstrating both civility and candor.

[From Backtrack to Saddleback -- Secularists Not Pleased]

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No Hope of a Solution at Lambeth

From Christianity Today Liveblog: An interview with Mouneer H. Anis, Episcopal bishop of Egypt and primate of the Anglican Province of the Jerusalem and the Middle East (including North Africa)…. my thoughts after the jump

What’s your greatest worry concerning Anglicanism?

I am very concerned about the unity among the conservatives and the evangelicals within the Communion. The Communion is in a crisis, and there are many impaired relationships.

We have made ourselves clear, our theological stand very clear many, many, many times. We announced our rejection of the new revisionists way within the Anglican Communion in many occasions and conferences. This time should not be a time for conferences only, but it should be a time when we actually take action. I personally feel that the issue of homosexuality is just a superficial symptom of a very, very deep illness in the core of the Communion.

Is this an illness in Anglicanism or the church on the whole?

The actual problem is crossing [theological] boundaries of the Communion. The Anglican way is Scripture, the authority of the Scripture, and the interpretation of the majority, or the accepted interpretations of the Scripture by the majority, not just one church within the family.

[From No Hope of a Solution at Lambeth, conservative bishop says | Liveblog | Christianity Today]

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American Customized Christianity

Albert Mohler writes …

Researchers are beginning to look at the data and analysis from the massive U.S. Religious Landscape Survey undertaken by the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life — and some of the insights are worth noting.

The study revealed big changes in American religious life, with the Protestant majority disappearing, millions of Americans “switching” faiths, and the number of “nothing in particular” responses rising.

Writing in Monday’s edition of USA Today, Stephen Prothero of Boston University suggests that the data indicate a fundamental transformation of American religion.

read the whole thing … very interesting.

Post Abortion Syndrome … for Dad

Not only are abortion survivors now old enough to tell their stories … fathers are stepping up to talk about their grief and loss. From Albert Mohler’s article A Voice they Don’t Want to Hear:

Just a couple of weeks ago, a new voice was heard in the abortion debate — the voice of the fathers whose babies have been aborted. As The Los Angeles Times reported, these men have been gathering and telling their stories [read my article here]. And their stories are powerful.

That’s clearly what worries abortion rights proponents. These men spoke of their grief, their loss, their guilt, and their shame. Some spoke of the forgiveness they had received through Christ and most spoke of their determination to tell the truth about their abortion experiences.

Look at this:

Jason Baier talks often to the little boy he calls Jamie. He imagines this boy — his son — with blond hair and green eyes, chubby cheeks, a sweet smile. But he’ll never know for sure. His fiancee’s sister told him about the abortion after it was over. Baier remembers that he cried. The next weeks and months go black. He knows he drank far too much. He and his fiancee fought until they broke up. “I hated the world,” he said. Baier, 36, still longs for the child who might have been, with an intensity that bewilders him: “How can I miss something I never even held?”

What a heart wrenching story! What is even more heart wrenching are the quotes being used by the abortion industry to stigmatize these grieving fathers. Go read the whole article.