Family – Divine Council

Bible

10 Distinctives of Biblical Counseling

By Guest Post May 16, 2019

by Paul Tautges

People often ask me how biblical counseling differs from other approaches to soul care. Here’s a summary I’ve been teaching for almost two decades, which I hope will help you grow in understanding sanctification. This week, look up the Scriptures listed and meditate on God’s abundant provision through the Spirit and the Word. See how each piece fits together. This study will be a healthy meal for your soul.

Biblical counseling believes:

1. The Bible is the all-sufficient source of Truth.

Scripture is pure truth (Ps. 119:140, 160).
Scripture is sufficient to identify the deepest needs of our soul, and meet them (Ps. 19:7-11; 2 Tim. 3:16-17).
Scripture is the instrumental means the Spirit uses to transform us from the inside out, even sanctifying our motivations (John 17:17; 2 Cor. 3:18; Heb. 4:12).
Scripture is the judge of all man-made philosophy and theory, as to whether or not it is accurate, corrupts the gospel, or diminishes Christ (1 Cor. 2:11-16; Col. 2:8-10; 2 Cor. 10-4-6).

2. Man is totally depraved, accountable to God, and responsible for his thoughts and actions.

Man’s heart is wicked and deceitful (Jer. 17:9).
Man’s heart is motivated by love for self, and is addicted to sin (Gen. 6:5; Rom. 6:13).
Man will give an account of himself to God (Rom. 14:12; 1 Pet. 4:4-5).
Man is responsible for his own temptation and sin (James 1:13-16).
But man can be rescued and redeemed by Jesus Christ—becoming a new creature in Him (2 Cor. 5:17).

3. God’s goal for every believer is to be like Jesus Christ.

The Christian life begins with regeneration, being born-again by the Spirit through the Word of truth, the gospel (John 3:1-8; 1 Pet. 1:3).
God has predestined believers to become conformed to the image of His Son, thus this is God’s goal (Rom. 8:29).
God is renewing the believer’s self into the image of Christ, as we put off the old and put on the new (Col. 3:9-10; Eph. 4:17-32).

4. The Holy Spirit is the agent of heart change, which produces change of behavior.

The Holy Spirit transforms us into the image of Jesus Christ as we behold Him in the Word (2 Cor. 3:18).
The Holy Spirit progressively trains us in godliness and develops new attitudes and lifestyle as we walk in the Word (Gal. 5:22-25).

5. Every Christian is fully equipped in Christ for godliness, but submission to God’s training is required.

God’s power is sufficient to live a life that is pleasing to Him, having already been accepted in Christ (2 Pet. 1:2-7; Eph. 1:6).
God will finish the sanctifying work which He began at conversion, but not without the personal discipline of the believer (Phil. 1:6; 2:12-13).
Suffering is one of the chief means the heavenly Father employs to train us in godliness and discipline (Heb. 12:4-11).

6. Sanctification is a process requiring ongoing repentance and personal discipline toward godliness.

Discipline the thoughts of the mind (Rom. 12:1-2).
Discipline the desires of the heart (James 4:1-3).
Discipline the habits of life (Eph. 4:22-32).

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Apologetics

6 Things You Can Tell Your Kids to Explain Pain and Suffering in Our World

By Guest Post April 30, 2019

by J. Warner Wallace

Devastating storms, killer earthquakes, record-setting fires and horrific acts of evil dominate recent news headlines. Why would an all-loving, all-powerful God allow these things to happen? Is God just unable to stop this kind of evil? If so, why call Him all-powerful? Is God unwilling to stop this kind of evil? Then why call Him all-loving? Some non-believers offer the existence of evil as proof that God doesn’t exist. What should we tell our kids when they observe (or even experience) evil?

Our conversations will certainly look (and sound) differently depending on the age and maturity of our kids, but in all the years that I have been discussing the “problem of evil” with students (either at conferences or as a youth pastor), several key issues continue to dominate my discussions. When explaining why an all-loving, all-powerful God would allow natural disasters (or human evil), consider incorporating the following truths:

Remind Your Kids That Eternity Can Helps Us Cope with Evil
All of us hope to live a long life without free from pain or hardship. What if we knew, in advance, we were going to live forever and experience a pain-free existence for all eternity? Would we view pain and suffering in our temporal life differently (even if it lasted for many years) if we knew we would eventually experience bliss forever? Remind your kids that God offers us life beyond the limits of our short, material existence; we are eternal creatures. All experiences of evil must be considered in light of eternity.

Remind Your Kids That God Loves Us Enough to Allow Us Free-Agency
A loving God would create a world in which love is possible, right? Love requires each of us to act freely, because true love cannot be coerced. God didn’t create us as robots; instead, He gave us free will so our expressions of love would be genuine. But, this also means we have the freedom to ignore God’s commandments and behave badly. Remind your kids that much of the evil we experience in the world is the result of humans who freely choose to disobey. God may allow some evil because free agency is required for love to exist in our world.

Remind Your Kids That Some Suffering Can Actually Develop Our Character
As a parent, you’re probably more concerned with your kids’ character than their comfort, and character is far more likely to be developed through adversity than advantage. Hard times can bring out the best in all of us, providing us with opportunities to help those in need, rise to the occasion, and come to the rescue. Remind your kids that God may allow us to suffer discomfort because He knows it will develop our character, especially since we are eternal creatures. God cares more about our eternal character than current comfort.

Remind Your Kids That God Can Use Some Evil to Call Us to Himself
Many of us ignore God until something happens to get our attention. Tragedy has a way of redirecting our thoughts and pointing us to a life beyond our current struggle. If God has designed us to be with Him in eternity, He might use hardship to refocus those of us who haven’t been paying attention. Remind your kids that some forms of evil may simply be part of God’s loving effort to point us in the right direction.

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Apologetics

Does God Just Want Me to Be Happy?

By Guest Post March 20, 2019

by Shane Pruitt

My wife, Kasi, and I became fully involved in counseling a couple whose marriage was breaking down; we spent hours praying for them. We tried everything we knew to help save their marriage. I talked and cried with the husband, and Kasi talked and cried with the wife, who wanted to leave. Kasi would plead, “Think of your family. Think of your baby. And, most importantly, think of your relationship with your heavenly Father.” I’ll never forget the night Kasi came home after spending a couple of hours with the wife. My beautiful, normally glowing bride looked completely dejected and exhausted; she said, “Shane, it’s over. She is leaving him.” I was confused and heartbroken for our friends. I had believed there was hope. I replied, “Kasi, what do you mean it’s over? Are you certain? How do you know?” I’ll never forget Kasi’s reply: “I know because of what she said” . . . she said, “I know that God just wants me to be happy!” And there it was. The statement that is always the card people play when they want to justify their actions. The statement that is always the excuse people give for ignoring what the Scriptures have to say about their particular breach of ethics: “God just wants me to be happy.”

Here are some questions that we all must settle for ourselves – Is our happiness really the determining factor for everything? Is happiness really the greatest good in the world? Statements like “Happy wife, happy life” and “The ultimate goal of life is the pursuit of happiness” have been staples in our society for as long as I can remember. But is that what God’s main priority for our lives is—to just be happy?

God Is Not a Genie

It’s a common belief that God exists to be our “personal genie,” waiting to give us our every wish, desire or validation for our feelings. It’s amazing how we will wear ourselves to exhaustion or destroy the world around us by trying to pursue an elusive state of happiness. Now, don’t get me wrong. I’m not anti-happy. I’m a big fan of healthy happiness. What I’m talking about is the world’s definition of happiness, or even more relevant to each of us, our own view of happiness. The world’s idea of happiness is directly tied to circumstances. If our circumstances are favorable, then we’re happy. If not, then we’re not.

But here’s the deal. Our circumstances change all the time. Many of us allow these vacillating circumstances to dictate our happiness. It’s an extremely dangerous scenario when outward forces control our inward feelings. If we’re pursuing that kind of happiness, we’ll end up in a ditch of resentment and regret. It’s this elusive lie, like greener pastures or plastic frogs, that lure us away from God’s best, eventually hooking us into a fight for our very lives. And we find ourselves stuck or hooked just steps before becoming miserable and depressed (not happy).

What if God desires more for us than happiness? Is it possible that in the pursuit of happiness, we’re completely missing God Himself? After all, He is the only One who can truly make us happy. Does God have something more in store for you and me than just happiness? Okay, here’s the answer to those questions. Three little letters: J-O-Y. God desires that you and I experience joy, that settled state of contentment, confidence, and hope that comes only from trusting Him. Sadly though, we often miss it because we’re too busy chasing happiness. Here are three definitive biblical truths that explain why joy is greater than happiness.

Joy Is a Fruit of the Holy Spirit

Joy is the second fruit of the Holy Spirit listed in Galatians 5: “The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy . . .” (verse 22). In the Bible, fruit is a symbol of character. The list of the fruit of the Holy Spirit in Galatians 5 is a list of characteristics that should naturally flow out of Christians’ lives when they have God inside them. One of the most distinct markers that the Spirit of God dwells in you is the presence of joy in your life. If you have the Spirit, you will have joy! This is one of the fundamental differences between biblical joy and worldly happiness. We attempt to find happiness from favorable circumstances, but we receive joy only as a gift from the favorable God. Happiness comes and goes as circumstances and feelings change. Joy, however, is here to stay.

Joy is Not Based on Circumstances, It’s Based on Jesus

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Children

Winter Challenges of Life in Nepal

By Theo Theo February 19, 2019

Having spent the last decade in Asia, I have been up against more than just the normal conditions here as the Lord led me to partner with DivineCouncil.org. This post will briefly survey my last quarter or so. I am asking for prayers as it truly has been a grand struggle against some form of maleficence.

Still Haven’t Seen Mount Everest

I am not the typical tourist as I hardly do anything touristy. I haven’t even laid my eyes on Mt. Everest physically yet–only through photos!

I have read through some feedback on various websites warning travelers that Nepal is rough for anyone and long-term is exceptionally challenging. They were not kidding! As one can read below, life here is more than quite interesting. I have met my fair share of challenges lately. I have “joined” Nepal in that I’ve married a Nepalese citizen. Thus, I live like a native as much as one can with a very simple footprint and habits.

Does simple living mean a higher life?

One Nepalese villager told me a few years back, “Simple living means a higher life.” He was being sarcastic as he saw his future grim because of the lack of employment opportunities here and how he would support his family. He has since left the country for greener pastures sending funds home like most do because local conditions warrant it as almost a necessity.

In the past few months as the Lord began bringing me to DivineCouncil.org, I have had two accidents with my bicycle in the same week. One was where the road gave way as it was under construction. I was blessed with a sweet bicycle by a doctor who also does triathlons. Getting that bike was a huge blessing indeed! Having accidents is a new trend I wish to circumvent!

Another accident involved the terrible traffic conditions as I experience everything here. I was hit by a car and survived by doing some amazing acrobatics! God be the glory! Before this, I was hit by three children and a chicken! I have opted for my health and fewer costs, to use a bicycle instead of other forms of transport because when the conditions are adverse, I can easily carry my cycle or go off-road as needed. It provides me with the opportunity to exercise. Also, if I hit anything or anyone, I will cause a lot less damage to myself, the bicycle, or others. I travel through urban traffic as well as mountain trails as I traverse the valley here where most paths lead up or down depending. I don’t add to the pollution!

A Nation Overhauling Its Infrastructure

Recent winter rains have made it near impossible for me to trek amid a nation overhauling its infrastructure in light of the 2015 earthquakes. Various sponsoring entities pave roads only to have them dug up for sewers, water, or electric lines. Nepal remains in chaos for the most part. The roads are not very well done, and not long afterward potholes take over once more. The whole valley is being rebuilt with dust everywhere. The fog does not help one’s perspective either. At times, almost an eerie experience.

Digestive Issues

In the past few months, I have battled severe digestive issues. One round that lasted quite some time was due to an apparent food allergy to one of the spices used here. I’ve since learned to avoid it. Often when I eat outside of the home, I experience this problem as hygiene is not practiced very well here, so I try to eat in as much as possible. However, cultural norms require me to bend to their hospitality. Two other rounds could be associated with that.

On top of this, last weekend I was a speaker at a conference on Galatians along with another pastor from SC. The food was catered in. Everyone has been extremely sick from food poisoning wondering if the caterers did it intentionally targeting the churches as a form of persecution. I have had such issues before but never to this level. Many in the churches are still in recovery.

Malware in Every Device

Along with living in Nepal where everything is painstakingly challenging to manage and accomplish due to the cultural idea of procrastination galore, I have had some form of malware inflict every device I own. My one solace is often here that when everything outside prevents me from accomplishing anything, I can work from my PC and get things done. However, I have also, lost much time factory resetting all my devices numerous times including backing up to a cloud and thinking everything I own has been affected. The grounding is not proper here, and there’s a 200% chance if you plug anything in or Bluetooth or any type of connection, one will get some malware in the transaction. I try not to plug anything in I own to anything thing here. The internet is not very reliable nor is electricity.

In previous years, I have faced the winter weather and managed well. I also have “weathered” the inner storms of digestive issues and whatnot. I even have had PC woes that set me back for days. Never have I until this recent round have I had to do it all at once repeatedly. I have been set back for many weeks now. Also, I have learned that the bowels and the brain are closely related, and one affects the other. I have had to fight off depression because of the chemical imbalances related to my digestive woes.

My family here has never been this sick in such a short time. The winter here was more severe than usual.

Travel Restrictions Keep Family Separated

My family in the States also have issues. I made a recent trip and may have to make another one as both my parents’ health is degrading. My wife cannot get a visa to travel; thus they have yet to meet her or the grandchildren.

Pray for Resolve

I sincerely hope considering the above plus the recent report on persecution one can see the real struggle here to allow me to study and produce content and share it here as we never know what will happen next. Other countries may have similar issues. I only hope and pray our resolve can be further tempered for the times ahead. I will continue to stay the course and hope and pray for better days ahead to allow me to do what God desires. Thank you all for your prayers!

Believers

37 Ways to Love One Another

By Guest Post February 19, 2019

by Paul Tautges

A local church is not built by one man, or even a few men, but by every believer being actively involved in ministry through evangelizing the lost people in their lives and serving their fellow Christians. A quick glance at the practice of the New Testament church reveals that they thought very little about programs and very much about relationships.

Consider the disciple-making that would naturally take place in the life of a local church if every believer would practice the loving, one-another ministry that the early churches first read about in the instructions they received from the apostles:

Be devoted to one another (Rom. 12:10).
Give preference to one another (Rom. 12:10).
Be of the same mind toward one another (Rom. 12:16).
Accept one another by withholding judgment (Rom. 14:1).
Accept one another by showing deference (Rom. 14:1–5; 15:7).
Esteem [highly regard] one another in love (Rom. 14:5; Phil. 2:3).
Build up one another (Rom. 14:19; 1 Thes. 5:11).
Counsel one another (Rom. 15:14).
Serve one another by showing deference in matters of liberty (Gal. 5:13).
Bear one another’s sin burdens (Gal. 6:2).
Be gentle with one another (Eph. 4:2).
Be kind to one another so as to preserve unity (Eph. 4:32).
Speak truth to one another (Eph. 4:25; Col 3:9).
Submit to one another (Eph. 5:21).
Show compassion to one another (Col. 3:12).
Bear with the inherent sinfulness of one another (Col. 3:13).
Forgive one another (Col. 3:13).
Use Spirit-filled, Word-saturated music to teach and admonish one another (Col. 3:16; Eph. 5:19).
Comfort one another with the hope of Christ’s return (1 Thes. 4:18).
Encourage one another (1 Thes. 5:11).
Live in peace with one another (1 Thes. 5:13).
Seek good for one another (1 Thes. 5:15).
Encourage one another to forsake unbelief and hardness of heart (Heb. 3:13).
Stimulate one another to spiritual growth (Heb. 10:24).
Encourage one another by faithful participation in your local church (Heb. 10:25).
Confess sins to one another (James 5:16).
Pray for one another’s spiritual and physical healing (James 5:16).

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Family

The Libertine Road to Serfdom

By Guest Post February 11, 2019

The Sexual State: How Elite Ideologies Are Destroying Lives and Why The Church Was Right All Along by Jennifer Roback Morse, Ph.D. Reviewed by Rev. Ben Johnson

Keen-eyed analysts have probed every ideological trend threatening liberty – from socialism and fascism to the Alt-Right – with one glaring exception: the revolt against personal responsibility. Jennifer Roback Morse, the founder of the Ruth Institute, capably fills this void in The Sexual State. Building on her previous book Love and Economics, Morse summarizes the sexual revolution in just a few propositions: It separates children from sexual activity and marriage, and eradicates all differences between men and women. This apparent personal freedom expands government by creating new avenues for regulation, increasing the need for means-tested welfare programs, and breaking down the “little society of the family.”

No public program can care for children as fully, selflessly, or naturally as two parents in a lifelong, committed union. From a social standpoint, Morse writes, the genius of marriage as a social institution is that its “extremely minimal legal structure” creates “a largely self-regulating, voluntary system of long-term cooperation between parents.”

Thus, we should not be surprised to learn that totalitarians of all stripes have sought to control the family. Inside the family, people develop loyalties to real people, not the Dear Leader. They develop habits that may not further the interests of the totalitarian State, with its all-embracing designs on every person. Inside the family, people may commit to ideas other than the state-sanctioned ideology.

The new ideology coopted Marxism’s dialectic of inevitability, now known as standing on “the right side of history.” However, this ideology finds advocates across the political spectrum.

Certain factions of the liberty movement embrace the Liberationist Narrative – something she calls “the Walmart theory of sex” – which celebrates changes to family life for giving us greater choice and agency. “Under a no-fault legal regime, we are freer on the front end” of a divorce or paternity settlement, Morse writes. “But we are less free on the back end, as the State steps in to manage the consequences.” Divorce courts dictate the time and money parents spend on their children, the language spoken in the home, even such mundane decisions as a child’s prom dress. This degree of intrusion into an intact family would be “unthinkable.”

Family breakdown, whether through divorce or illegitimacy, strongly harms children and beckons the government to fill the void left by absent parents. “Increases in the likelihood of poverty, physical illness, mental illness, poor school performance, and crime have all been associated with being separated from a parent,” Morse writes. This elevated risk persists even in nations as committed to egalitarianism and progressive social values as Sweden. Such pathologies usher children into the welfare system where, once inside, a matrix of laws holds them in place. Medicaid, SNAP, TANF, and WIC eligibility guidelines disfavor marriage. The cost of family breakdown to the U.S. government alone totals an estimated $100 to $112 billion, Morse notes, adding that studies show the same phenomenon increases welfare spending in New Zealand, the UK, and Canada. “The ordinary tax-paying citizen faces a greater tax burden than otherwise would be the case as a direct result of what, by the Liberationist Narrative, is an increase in sexual freedom,” Morse writes.

Similarly, gender ideology “creates a separation between children and their parents and inserts the State between them,” as the “State sets itself up as the public enforcer of their new identities.” In Minnesota, a school district facilitated a minor’s gender transition without parental notification. Laws now police the permissible use of pronouns.

“Civil libertarians, fiscal conservatives, and open-minded liberals should all be troubled by the actual results as opposed to the supposed benefits of this ‘freedom,’” Morse writes.

References to “class warfare” and “class analysis” may lead some reviewers to caricature the book as a rejection of a free society. Nothing could be further from the truth. Morse, who highlights her “affiliations with all three of the major schools of free market economics,” ascribes changed cultural mores to excusing the libidinous excesses of “the managerial elite”: the nexus of academics, lobbyists, government bureaucrats, thought leaders, and mass media sharing the same narrative. Yet she defines the term by noting:

The managerial class goes beyond the purely class designation in this respect: it’s built upon the idea that society is something that needs to be managed. … Seldom have the privileged classes taken it upon themselves to “nudge” their neighbors and fellow citizens about their eating habits, sex lives, spending habits, personal safety, and even their thoughts. …

Legal historian Joseph Dellapenna observes that the rise of the managerial class was not unique to the United States in the twentieth century. “The managerial class rose to dominance in the U.S. with the New Deal in the 1930s, and has continued to dominate ever since. … Evidence of the transition to social domination by a managerial class can be traced back to the nineteenth century, particularly in England. Nor was this transition limited to western or capitalist nations. In a real sense, the rise of Communism and Socialism was nothing more or (less) than a rise of the managerial class.”

“Ponder that last sentence for a while,” Morse writes.

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Culture

Police Threaten to Arrest Mom for ‘Transphobic’ Twitter Comments

By Guest Post February 8, 2019

by Michael Foust

A British stay-at-home mom was threatened with arrest last year after she criticized another mother on Twitter about her stance on teenage sex-reassignment surgery.

The British mom, Kellie-Jay Keen-Minshull, gave details of the incident in a new podcast interview with National Review. Keen-Minshull is well-known in British media for being a social liberal who opposes much of the transgender agenda. She is the founder of the organization Standing for Women and a mother of four.

The controversy began when Keen-Minshull tweeted her thoughts about transgender activist Susie Green, who had taken her 16-year-old biological son to Thailand for a sex-reassignment surgery that is illegal at that age in the United Kingdom. Specifically, Keen-Minshull tweeted that Green had supported castration of her son.

That led Green to report Keen-Minshull to the police, who contacted Keen-Minshull.

Among the potential charges: malicious communication and transphobic hate speech.

Keen-Minshull said she was shocked when first contacted by a policeman from West Yorkshire.

“They texted me, and I just ignored it. … I assumed it was a scam,” she told National Review.

Police then called her on the phone. They wanted to interview her.

“And [the policeman] said, ‘Mrs. Keen-Minshull, if you don’t come to the interview, you’ll be wanted. … And I said, ‘Actually, what does that mean?’ And he said., ‘Well, it means if you try to leave the country, we’ll arrest you. If you get pulled over for speeding, we’ll arrest you. And then he said a couple things that I really don’t remember. And he said, ‘If that takes too long we’ll come and arrest you at your house and then you’ll sit in the cells and wait for me to come’ … which could take a very long time because of the geographical distance between him and [me].”

She agreed to allow the police to come to her town for the interview.

“[They] spent the night in my area in a hotel to interview me about six tweets, which basically criticized a woman who took her son to Thailand and had him castrated,” Keen-Minshull told National Review.

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Children

VA Gov. Northam: Abortion Bill Leaves Born Babies’ Lives Up to Doctors and Mothers to Decide

By Guest Post January 31, 2019

by Andrew Kugle

Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam (D.) commented Wednesday about a controversial 40-week abortion bill and in so doing said the law allows an abortion to take place after the infant’s birth.

“If a mother is in labor, I can tell you exactly what would happen. The infant would be delivered. The infant would be kept comfortable. The infant would be resuscitated if that’s what the mother and the family desired, and then a discussion would ensue between the physicians and the mother,” Northam said, alluding to the physician and mother discussing whether the born infant should live or die.

A Democratic lawmaker in the Virginia House of Delegates proposed a bill Tuesday that would allow abortions through the end of the third trimester of pregnancy. The video of Delegate Kathy Tran presenting her bill led to an exchange where she admitted that her bill would allow for a mother to abort her child minutes before giving birth.

“How late in the third trimester could a physician perform an abortion if he indicated that it would impair the mental health of the woman?” Majority Leader Todd Gilbert (R.) asked.

“Or physical health,” Tran said.

“Okay,” Gilbert replied. “I’m talking about the mental health.”

“I mean, through the third trimester,” Tran said. “The third trimester goes up to 40 weeks.”

“Okay, but to the end of the third trimester?” Gilbert asked.

“Yup, I don’t think we have a limit in the bill,” Tran said.

“Where it’s obvious that a woman is about to give birth, she has physical signs that she’s about to give birth, would that still be a point at which she could request an abortion if she was so certified?” Gilbert asked. “She’s dilating.”

Tran responded that is a decision between the woman and her doctor would have to make. Gilbert asked if her bill would allow an abortion right before the infant was born.

“My bill would allow that, yes,” Tran said.

NBC4 reporter Julie Carey asked Northam about the measure.

“Do you support her measure and explain her answer?” Carey asked.

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Apologetics

10 Reasons Why the Argument ‘Jesus Never Mentioned Homosexuality’ Doesn’t Matter

By Guest Post January 30, 2019

by David Kyle Foster

If you’ve ever engaged with an activist, a liberal Christian or just the average person on the street on the subject of homosexuality, you’ve probably encountered this platitude: “Jesus never mentioned homosexuality!” Among those who make such a claim, that statement is one of the quickest, easiest and most common excuses for approving homosexual practice because it gives the appearance of being a biblical argument while being just the opposite.

Does such a claim hold any weight biblically? And if it is true that Jesus never mentioned homosexuality, does that really justify homosexual behavior?

The “Jesus never mentioned it” argument has numerous and serious flaws, so let’s go through them one by one.

The most obvious point to make is that Jesus didn’t mention any number of sins. For example, He never mentioned child sexual abuse or wife beating. Does that mean that they are no longer sins? He never mentioned transvestism (Deut. 22:5). Does that make it okay now?
It defies simple logic to claim that the absence of any mention of certain sins by Jesus in the New Testament indicates that He now approves of them. Homosexual practices were condemned in the Old Testament in the strongest of terms (Lev. 18:22; 20:13) and Jesus affirmed those prohibitions (Matt. 5:17-20).
Additionally, the claim that He must mention a sin for it to be wrong assumes that the purpose of the New Testament was to re-state or to create a new list of forbidden practices. Such an argument unmasks complete ignorance of Scripture on the part of those who make it. These would-be scholars are no scholars at all. They are apologists for those who seek to jettison God’s moral standards (see Rom. 1:28, 32). Until the modern era, no biblical scholar of the past 2,000 years has ever proposed such a ridiculous hermeneutic. Thus, such would-be scholars presume to know better than all of the biblical scholars (Christian or secular) of the past two millennia. They echo Satan’s original deception, “Did God really say”? (Gen. 3:1, NIV).

What Jesus did do was to point out that the religious leaders of His day were inventing laws in an effort to establish their righteousness before God and to show themselves pious before men (Matt. 23:1-7, 27-28).

He also pointed out that their standards and practices for obeying the Mosaic Law fell short of its full meaning. For example, when He pointed out that the sin of adultery could be committed at the heart level, not just physically (Matt. 5:27-28), Jesus was revealing the deeper meaning, scope and intent of the law. He was also establishing the fact that no man could keep the Law in all of its aspects (see also Rom. 3:20, 27-28; James 2:8-11).

4. Most of what Jesus said wasn’t even recorded in the Bible (John 20:30, 21:25; Rev. 22:18-19). So the incompleteness of the biblical accounts of what He said mitigates the claim that Jesus never mentioned homosexual practices.

5. Jesus reaffirmed all of the moral law (Matt. 5:17-20), and chided those who broke the commandments and taught others to do the same (Rom. 1:32).

Here, it’s important to understand that there were different kinds of Old Testament law. The Old Testament contained ritual (ceremonial), sacrificial, civil and moral law. Jesus affirmed its entirety, yet brought to an end the ritual and sacrificial law by fulfilling them.

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Children

The Adventures of a Homeschooling Dad — Series

By Terence Gillespie January 22, 2018

If you have children in elementary school, you may be interested in a series of articles I’m writing on homeschooling, on my personal website, Mcgillespie.com.

The education of our boys (ages 9 and 5) has been unfolding wonderfully, so far. However, dark clouds are forming on the horizon, and it’s time to do a little reconnaissance on our options.

As other homeschooling parents have done for my wife and me, I hope others may benefit as we share our findings and experiences.

Intro to Part 1, “The Adventures of a Homeschooling Dad”

“Though satisfied with our children’s private school, three factors are motivating my wife and me to start looking into homeschooling, again. The Christian school our boys attend is having financial problems, their high-school is aiming towards the new common core SATs for college admissions, and SB-277 will soon involve our non-vaccinated boys.

None of these factors affect us, right now, making it the perfect time to do some reconnaissance. Even if the financial problems get resolved, and we find a way around SB-277, the intrusion of common core into the high-school is enough motivation, by itself, to start vetting alternatives.”