The following articles have been selected because they are informative, instructive, entertaining, or simply interesting. Articles appearing in Your Friday Five do not represent an endorsement.
The Equality Act and the Rise of the Anti-Theological State, By Dr. R. Albert Mohler Jr.,
Will America sacrifice religious freedom for the sake of newly constructed sexual and gender identity liberties? We will know the answer to that question in short order, and the prospects for preserving religious liberty hang in a dangerous political balance.
Theological Snobbery, By Dr. Matt Beasley
Seemingly, when Jesus dealt with the religious establishment of his day, he found them perfectly myopic and blind to the reality of who he was. They had a theological impediment that would not allow them to see Jesus as anything other than one whose teachings and manner of life were an affront to their own conception of God. Jesus continually challenged the way they read and applied the Hebrew Scriptures. Amazingly, using these same scriptures, Jesus taught about the Father and sought to correct their myopia through the corrective lens of his teaching. Recall how on the road to Emmaus in Luke 24:27 we read, “And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he interpreted to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself.”
Vatican bars gay union blessing, says God ‘can’t bless sin’, By Nicole Winfield
ROME (AP) — The Vatican declared Monday that the Catholic Church won’t bless same-sex unions since God “cannot bless sin.” The Vatican’s orthodoxy office, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, issued a formal response to a question about whether Catholic clergy have the authority to bless gay unions. The answer, contained in a two-page explanation published in seven languages and approved by Pope Francis, was “negative.”
How the Growing Global Church Can Encourage American Christians, By Y Bonesteele
Even through a pandemic, God is moving. He’s always moving and growing His Kingdom, not despite traumatic events, but through them. All around the world we have seen God continue to make Himself known, grow His disciples, and bring good news to a world yearning for hope.
A Tale of Two Weddings, By Raymond J. de Souza
Royal weddings can be solemn or superficial, yet remain in either case of utmost importance. They are the most watched weddings in the world. They both reveal and shape popular wedding culture.