by Nathan A. Cherry, 01/27/2012

Martinsburg, WV – As a die-hard New England Patriots fan I am accustomed to being the only one rooting for my team. As with other great dynasties, if you are not a fan you have no trouble rooting against the dominating team. One team I have never been a fan of is the Denver Broncos. It is easy for me to root against them and enjoy watching them lose. Until recently…

I have to admit that I am an unashamed Tim Tebow fan. I love his competitive spirit and never-give-up attitude. But most of all I love how he refuses to separate his faith from his public life as a football player. He is a Christian first and a football player second. He boldly shares his faith whether he wins or loses and does so without apology. Even when the critics bash him – for his faith or his football – he smiles and gives all the glory and credit to his “Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.”

So when the Broncos beat the Pittsburgh Steelers in the first play of overtime during their first playoff game this year I was jumping and screaming like a crazy man. Then it hit me, they were headed to New England for a round two matchup that would be epic. And I was okay with that because either my team would win, or Tim Tebow would continue to write a Cinderella story that God is authoring in the life of this bold Christian.

And while some people would eagerly claim that Tebow has had no effect on the NFL and his lasting legacy would not be one very well remembered, such a claim, for me, came crashing down during the Patriots/Broncos game when I saw a commercial of a bunch of kids reciting John 3:16. I can’t begin to share all the amazing things about this video and the fact that it aired on national television during one of the most watched games of the entire year. (For more coverage on this amazing story please see this article or this one.)

But when cirtics of Tebow and his faith start railing against this young man that simply desires to live out his faith in a real way I get a little hot under the collar. The fact is, this is what we all should be doing, boldly sharing our faith with anyone and everyone that will listen. And just in case you think it doesn’t make a difference take a look at these quotes Focus on the Family received as a result of the commercial:

“Both my sons just saw your commercial and gave their lives to Christ as a result…Thank you. #John316.”

Similarly, another woman said:

“Thanks for running the John 3:16 ad during the Broncos/Patriots game. My husband is not a believer, but he was so taken by those precious kids that he became emotional watching it. Thanks for reaching out in such a warm, compassionate way.”

The religious freedom we enjoy today is a direct result of bold Christians that fought for the right to express their faith in every facet of their life, public and private. Tim Tebow is merely a visual reminder of how every Christian should be living out their faith. That visual reminder is threatening to those that oppose religious liberty and the religious convictions that many Americans hold dearly.

In a world where liberals and atheists are seeking to remove all mention of God from the public sector – like schools, sports leagues, clubs and the work place – Tim Tebow is a threat. His boldness is inspiring millions to exercise their faith and that just won’t do for religious suppressors.

Watch the video below and be inspired by one of the most famous verses in the Bible. But, be reminded of the fact that we as Christians are supposed to be “salt and light” in a dark world. Be reminded that we can’t be either if we suppress our convictions or allow threats to stifle the grace and truth that lives in us. (If the video doesn’t appear please refresh your browser).

As for Tebow’s impact on the NFL, when was the last time you saw the Bible read during primetime television? Enough said.

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by Nathan A. Cherry, 01/19/2012

Would Jesus lead this?

Martinsburg, WV – Perhaps no issue is more polarizing, hotly debated, fiercely fought, or conversed about than that of same-sex “marriage” and homosexual rights. On one side are those advocates that believe sexual orientation is the same as the color of a person’s skin; something no one chooses. Therefore homosexuals should be treated like every other person and given the same rights as every other person; including the right to marry.

The other position, traditionally held by evangelicals and conservatives, is that homosexuality is a lifestyle choice that, if affirmed and legalized (read: marriage) will severely limit the free speech and religious freedoms of other people. To say homosexuality is a sin used to be easy and carry no repercussions. Those days, in the political and public sectors are long gone. To make such a statement, even in one’s personal time, on a blog, Facebook, or any place else that another human being might see or hear it, has serious consequences.

This is becoming very obvious as we run full speed into the 2012 presidential election. Candidates are being asked directly about their view on homosexuality, whether marriage, military service, or otherwise, by likely voters as they encounter people in public across the states.

A recent article by the National Journal illustrates the varied encounters GOP candidates are having along the campaign trail with comments by everyone from Rick Perry to Mitt Romney.

Read the rest of this entry »

Correction (1/4/12): After this article was published and then distributed widely across our statewide network of churches and families, it came to our attention that Lifeway has since stopped this ill-fated project.  You can read more about this error here.  Below is the entire statement from Lifeway’s CEO announcing the error:

We made a mistake.

As part of Breast Cancer Awareness Month in October, B&H Publishing Group released to several mass market retailers a Cancer Awareness Bible as a way to place God’s Word into the hands of those suffering through breast cancer. As part of the project, B&H agreed to donate $1 from the sale of each Bible to the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation for breast health education, screening and treatment programs.

As this project has developed, we realized it was a mistake.

When our leadership discovered the overwhelming concern that some of Komen’s affiliates were giving funds to Planned Parenthood, we began the arduous process of withdrawing this Bible from the market. Though we have assurances that Komen’s funds are used only for breast cancer screening and awareness, it is not in keeping with LifeWay’s core values to have even an indirect relationship with Planned Parenthood.

B&H’s mission to advance the gospel through distribution of God’s Word is unchanged, so we will continue to seek innovative ways that are in keeping with LifeWay’s core values.

Thom S. Rainer
President and CEO
LifeWay Christian Resources

——————-ORIGINAL STORY——————-

by Nathan A. Cherry, 01/02/2012

Martinsburg, WV – It probably seems odd to you that a faith based organization such as the Family Policy Council of West Virginia is asking you not to buy a Bible. It might seem even stranger knowing that I am a pastor with many Bibles on my shelves. But let me assure you that there is good reason for me asking you not to buy this very brightly colored pink Bible.

The Bible is a life changing book containing the words of God Almighty. The pages of Scripture have the ability to speak hope into the circumstances of life that each of us are facing. I can think of no better place to find grace, truth, love, and life than in the words of this sacred text. So the idea of buying a Bible and helping support abortion is so appalling to me that I am now asking you not to buy this Bible.

This new Bible comes from the Susan G. Komen for the Cure foundation for breast cancer research in conjunction with Lifeway Christian Stores and B&H Publishing (the publisher known for the Holman Christian Standard Bible (HCSB). You might be thinking that all that sounds well and good considering that Lifeway is the Christian stores of the Southern Baptist Convention and the HCSB Bible is a well-respected modern translation; and you would be right.

The problem here is that the link between Komen and Planned Parenthood has been well established. Komen, in 2010 alone gave more than half a million dollars to Planned Parenthood for “breast cancer screenings and women’s health.” But the truth is that very few (if any) Planned Parenthood clinics actually do mammograms or any other form of breast health examinations. So the money Komen funnels into Planned Parenthood is actually serving to fund abortion.

Read the rest of this entry »

by Nathan A. Cherry, 12/20/2011

Martinsburg, WV – There seems to be a concerted effort to paint America’s founders as anything but Christian. Efforts to present them as agnostic, humanist, atheist, and anything else are becoming stronger as people seek to destroy the rich heritage of faith, God, and the Bible that ultimately set the foundation of our nation.

However, in this very informative video presented by the Family Research Council, Dr. Daniel Dreisbach, a very respected professor of law at American University shows that the Founding Fathers used the Bible constantly in their creation and establishment of the United States. Dr. Dreisbach’s new article, “The Bible in the Political Rhetoric of the American Founding,” is prominently featured in the current edition of Politics and Religion Journal.

Dr. Dreisbach points out that both the founders and ordinary people used the Bible and it’s principles to guide both their private and public lives:

“The Bible and biblical precepts penetrated the core beliefs of many founders and the ubiquitous manifestations of those beliefs in public and private utterances… Both influential and ordinary citizens drew on biblical language, ideas, and themes in thinking and talking about the political challenges that confronted them.”

I would highly encourage you to take a few minutes to watch this lecture. The information shared by Dr. Dreisbach is not only historically accurate it is useful for us today. What our founding fathers did was unprecedented, there is no doubt that faith played an integral role in their personal lives, and their public politics. This lesson is urgently needed today.

To listen to Dr. Dreisbach’s lecture on the Christian roots of America’s founding, click here.

If the video doesn’t appear please refresh your browser.

By Nathan A. Cherry, 09/16/2010

Holy books of all faiths should be respected.

 Martinsburg, WV –  Maybe this is more of a rant than anything else, but, once in a while a good rant is needed just for a little perspective.

The Volokh Conspiracy website carries a story from the New York Daily News about a man that was fired from his job for burning a copy of the Koran in his off-duty time.

New Jersey Transit employee Derek Fenton was “dismissed” for violating “his trust as a state employee,” because of actions the state deemed “violated New Jersey Transit’s code of ethics.” But as Chris Dunn of the New York Civil Liberties Union commented, “If Fenton was fired for burning the Koran while off-duty; his First Amendment rights probably were violated.”

Eugene Volokh rightly noted:

“The relevant First Amendment test for when the government may fire an employee for off-duty expression on a matter of public concern…is unfortunately quite vague: The government may restrict such speech, but only if the restriction is ‘necessary for their employers to operate efficiently and effectively’… It’s hard for me to see much of an argument that Fenton’s expression interferes with the employer’s effectiveness by undermining public confidence in the employer; Fenton isn’t a spokesman for the employer, or in a position where the public must be able to count on his fairness in exercising discretion with regard to members of the public.”

So here is where religious freedom, freedom of speech and just plain old freedom all collide in this modern day society of murky rights. Does Mr. Fenton have the right to burn the Koran, absolutely. Does someone have the right to burn any book he or she desires, absolutely. Would someone be fired from employment for burning the Bible, probably not.  

Read the rest of this entry »

Albert Mohler, President of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, was recently on NPR’s “Talk of the Nation” with Lisa Miller, author of Newsweek recently controversial cover story, A Religious Case for Gay Marriage. 

From his blog, Dr. Mohler had the following to say about his time on the broadcast:

I appreciate Lisa Miller’s candid acknowledgment of the fact that the November 4 passage of Proposition 8 in California had just about everything to do with the timing of the story.  Beyond that, I appreciated her explanation of her argument for same-sex marriage.  In essence, her dichotomy between those who see the Bible as a document with a “living” interpretation and those who see it as a binding document gets to the heart of the issue.  As much as no evangelical I know would ever accept the dichotomy framed this way, she does explain her own perspective well.  She believes the Bible contains “universal themes” that should be preserved, but no binding rules that are to be obeyed.

That does clarify the issue. Her understanding of biblical authority (if you can even call it that) allows her to deny the truth status of passages she prefers to disregard (The audio of the interview can be heard here).

It is important for a person to understand the foundation that one, such as Lisa Miller, is working from in conducting linguistic gymnastics in having the Bible say something that was not meant to be said (this goes for any historical document for that matter). 

Just like any other letter, book, or e-mail, when the Bible was written, there was an intent by the author of the individual book that is grounded in history, unchanging.  Since this is the case, we are to begin by observing what was said by the author and to whom it was written.  Once we understand the historical intent of the text, then we are capable of interpreting and applying it to our life today. 

The Bible – or any other historical document – is not to be considered a “living document” in the sense that the original intent takes on a new meaning today or tomorrow. 

As before in Part 1, I encourage you to take 28 minutes and watch the following video by Robert Gagnon, Professor of New Testament at Pittsburgh Theological Seminary.  This video lays the basic groundwork for a Biblical response to homosexuality and same-sex marriage. 

Sit back, get your pen and paper ready, and watch and learn.  

[vimeo=http://www.vimeo.com/2126309]

Further Food for Thought:

Does the Bible Support Same-Sex Marriage: Part 1 and 3

From Tolerance to Intolerance: How the Normalization of Homosexuality and Same-Sex Marriage Will Lead to the Suppression of Freedom

Settling the Issue: Same-Sex Marriage IS NOT a Civil Right

The Long Count by Austin Nimock’s

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Forget judges, foreign countries, and everything the media says.

 A recent poll by the Princeton Survey Research Associates International group, published in the Angus Reid Global Monitor and Alliance Alert, says that Americans are divided on the issue of same-sex marriage. Well, I don’t need a poll to tell me that. But, the conclusions of this poll are particularly interesting to note.

Granted, this poll was released by Newsweek magazine, which, as we now know will go to incredible lengths to help spread the message of equality for the gay and lesbian community. Just last week the magazine released a story claiming that the Bible itself is actually in support of same-sex marriage. (Click here for the Newsweek article: “Our Mutual Joy.”)

 
Well, I hate to tell Lisa Miller, Newsweek, and the rest who would inappropriately claim that the Bible supports same-sex marriage, but, no serious student of Scripture and no credited Bible scholar would ever stand in the camp of those who would make this claim. And though Ms. Miller is the religion columnist for Newsweek, before she publishes another article such as this that makes her look quite silly in the eyes of those who truly do know the Bible, I have a whole list of the world’s most renown scholars she ought to consult with to get her facts straight.

Back to the poll that was released. The interesting thing about it is that it asserts that 32% of Americans favor civil unions for same-sex couples, while 31% support marriage rights, with only 30% favoring no legal status of any kind.

I find this interesting in light of the fact that 30 states, including one of the largest, California, have passed state amendments recognizing marriage as between one man and one woman. These 30 states certainly make up a majority. And several states that have no amendment yet, such as Iowa and West Virginia, consistently release polls showing major majorities in favor of marriage between one man and one woman. And yet this poll released by Newsweek wants to claim that nearly two-thirds of Americans favor same-sex unions of some sort.

In the same article that the poll was released is a quickly placed blurb about how the Netherlands, Belgium, Spain, Canada, and South Africa, with Norway coming in 2009, all allow same-sex marriage. My first thought was, so what.

I cannot make heads or tails of why in the world writers, politicians, and the media continue to bring up what other countries are doing and allowing. Exactly what relevance does that have to the United States? If these countries are so incredible, so amazing, so progressive and forward thinking, why aren’t people rushing their borders trying to get in? Why don’t their governments have to adopt new laws to accommodate all the “foreigners” who have stormed their shores?

If politicians and media personnel are so enamored with these other countries and their “freedom” why don’t they move there? Why stay in this terrible awful country where oppression and inequality still exist? I will tell you why. It’s because no matter what laws from around the world the liberal side may drool over, this is still the greatest country on the planet, and it is still the country everyone wants to get in to, and it is because the democratic process is allowed to thrive here (at least we can say that for now, what happens in the future is still uncertain).

How about we stop focusing on what is happening in other countries and start paying more attention to the things we need to work on right here in our own back yard. Despite the supposed democracy we espouse some judge won’t play by the rules. Take Iowa for example.

One judge in Iowa decided to scrap the law and strike down DOMA, which has been in place since 1998, according to an article on dailygate.com. The judge, District Judge Robert Hanson, did so because of one case, Varnum v. Brien. This despite consistent polls that show 72% of Iowans support traditional marriage. Now the battle begins in Iowa. The question is, according to Alliance Defense Fund allied attorney Doug Napier, an Iowa native, is:

“Who gets to decide: seven justices or the people of Iowa?”

I would pose the same question to the people of West Virginia, my state of residence. Currently West Virginia has the same DOMA law that was struck down by one single judge in Iowa. And it would be just as easy to strike down in West Virginia as it was in Iowa. Eerily similar to polls and stats in Iowa as well, is the fact that polls have shown that over 70% of West Virginians support the definition of marriage as being between one man and one woman. Click here for the Family Policy Council poll.

I would urge all citizens of West Virginia to contact Gov. Joe Manchin’s office and tell him you want the right to define marriage in the state of West Virginia. Tell him that we, the people, want the right to define marriage, not the legislature, not the courts, not any judge, but we the people. (Click here to e-mail Gov. Joe Manchin’s office.) As I’ve said before, and will continue to say, we stand for marriage between one man and one woman, and we do not want the courts or anyone else imposing a law upon us that knowingly deprives children of a mother and a father.

Here’s the final word for today. No government, judge or legislature should pass any law that is a sweeping, all inclusive law without the consent of the people. Laws should always go through the people, because in democratic systems, which for the time being we still have in America, the government flows through the people. To usurp the will of the people is to ignore the democratic process.

Further Food for Thought: Click here for the World Net Daily response to the Newsweek article claiming the Bible supports homosexuality.

Does the Bible Support Same-Sex Marriage? « Family Voice

Click here for an article on the UN receiving 5.4 million signatures supporting life and family.

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On a recent cover from Newsweek magazine, we read the following caption: “The Religious Case for Gay Marriage.”  To boot, the cover image itself is of a Bible with a rainbow colored book mark stemming from its pages.  In a general gist, the entirety of the story, as written by Newsweek Religious Editor Lisa Miller, is based upon these two premises:

To which there are two obvious responses: First, while the Bible and Jesus say many important things about love and family, neither explicitly defines marriage as between one man and one woman. And second, as the examples above illustrate, no sensible modern person wants marriage—theirs or anyone else’s —to look in its particulars anything like what the Bible describes (Our Mutual Joy: Opponents of gay marriage often cite Scripture. But what the Bible teaches about love argues for the other side)

I imagine it would be safe to say that Newsweek magazine is staunchly promoting a pro-Same-Sex Marriage position.  This is not only evident within the contents of the cover story, but is also observed in the words in the editorial note provided by Jon Meacham.  Although this is the case, Meacham does provide a good point in his concluding remarks that Christian Leaders should prayerfully consider:

History and demographics are on the side of those who favor inclusion over exclusion. (As it has been with reform in America from the Founding forward.) The NEWSWEEK Poll confirms what other surveys have also found: that there is a decided generational difference on the issue, with younger people supporting gay marriage at a higher rate than older Americans. One era’s accepted reality often becomes the next era’s clear wrong. So it was with segregation, and so it will be, I suspect, with the sacrament of marriage.

The reality that Christianity is doing an abysmal job in equipping their young people with a well informed Christian worldview has been observed in the research conducted by Christian Smith, in Soul Searching: The Religious and Spiritual Lives of American Teenagers and by The Barna Group.  How else can one explain younger self-identified Christians acceptance of same-sex marriage apart from the failure of their parents and Church Leaders to instill within them a well informed Christian worldview? 

In getting back to the Newsweek cover story, Albert Mohler made the following observation at the end of his review:

The national news media are collectively embarrassed by the passage of Proposition 8 in California.  Gay rights activists are publicly calling on the mainstream media to offer support for gay marriage, arguing that the media let them down in November.  It appears that Newsweek intends to do its part to press for same-sex marriage.  Many observers believe that the main obstacle to this agenda is a resolute opposition grounded in Christian conviction.  Newsweek clearly intends to reduce that opposition.

Newsweekcould have offered its readers a careful and balanced review of the crucial issues related to this question.  It chose another path — and published this cover story.  The magazine’s readers and this controversial issue deserved better (for a detailed response to this cover story, read the entirety of Albert Mohler’s response here).

In the end, I would encourage you to make 28 minutes to watch the following video by Robert Gagnon, Professor of New Testament at Pittsburgh Theological Seminary.  This video lays the basic groundwork for a Biblical response to homosexuality and same-sex marriage.

[vimeo=http://www.vimeo.com/2126309]

Food for Further Thought:

Does the Bible Support Marriage: Part 2 and 3

Settling the Issue: Same-Sex Marriage IS NOT a Civil Right

From Tolerance to Intolerance: How the Normalization of Homosexuality and Same-Sex Marriage Will Lead to the Suppression of Freedom

Marriage: Its Foundational Importance

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