The Evil in Nigeria
What should Christians do if the Government turned against homosexuals and started rounding them up to torture and kill them? Rod Dreher, an Eastern Orthodox Christian journalist, says that Nigerian Christians who are in that position should hide and protect homosexuals.
Just to be perfectly clear, I hold to the Christian orthodox position on the morality of same-sex relations, and I am against gay marriage. But I also hold to the Christian orthodox position on human decency and dignity. What is going on in Nigeria is an abomination.
He then goes on to describe what’s happening to homosexuals in Nigeria and finishes up with this:
I hope there are Christians in Nigeria who have the courage to hide gay men and women when the police come for them. I wouldn’t presume to speak for Islam, of course (Nigeria has a large Muslim population, in case you didn’t know), but to fellow Christians in Nigeria: Is this really how you witness to orthodox Christian truth? Really?
Even although the persecution in the West is increasingly done by homosexuals against Christians, I agree with Dreher that in moral and spiritual matters, torture and death should not be used as a substitute for the power of the Gospel. In fact, what a powerful caricature-smashing witness it would be for Christians to take the side of homosexuals in this situation.
No Moms and Dads Needed to Make a Family
Denny Burk reflects on Breeders, a new documentary that critically examines surrogacy and it’s contribution to the redefinition of the family.
Pressure to Have Fantasy Weddings Threatening Marriage
Former Archbishop of Canterbury , Rowan Williams, says marketing push to turn weddings into an “experience” to be marketed, rather than simply a public declaration of commitment. He went on to want that “the growing pressure on couples to have a perfect wedding has become one of the biggest threats to marriage itself.” His main points:
- Young people are now faced with an immense offensive by advertisers and others driven by profit to have a showy and expensive day – often to the detriment of their relationship itself.
- It has turned weddings into massively fantastical events, which leave the day-to-day reality of married life looking decidedly dull by comparison.
- The obsession with glitzy, celebrity-style weddings is a symptom of the short-term, unimaginative, emotionally unintelligent culture of modern Britain.
- Speaking against the trend to sign pre-nuptial agreements he said, “If we begin with a sense of relationships needing to be governed by contract because we need to establish precisely what our claims are then we may find we have problems in a relational and ethical register arriving from that.
- He spoke of “The real challenge posed in some sections of society by the marginalising, the weakening, the making impotent – I chose my words – of young males; the fact that in many parts of our society you men particularly have dysfunctional networks, small chances of employment, insecurity internal and external.”
The BBC say his comments echo a warning last year by the work and pensions secretary Iain Duncan Smith that a culture of “fairytale weddings” promoted by magazine articles featuring celebrities had driven up the average cost of a wedding far beyond the means of some young couples.
Modern Medical Challenges for Christians in 2014
Dr. Christopher Bogosh says the two major challenges are modern medicine’s redefining life into evolutionary categories and redefining hope into modern medical advances.