The cover of the July issue of Vanity Fair displays Caitlyn Jenner (the new transgender identity of 1976 Olympic gold medalist Bruce Jenner). Caitlyn is the new ?poster girl? of the transgender movement in western civilization … There is obvious tension between the transgender movement and modern feminism.
We complete our study of 2 Thessalonians, with Paul’s encouragement to believers to live holy & productive lives.
Paul reminds us that God loves His people & we are in the process of being sanctified. We are reminded to hold fast to His teachings, and encourage others to consider to the Gospel of the Lord.
In many parts of the world, there is a growing concern about the retreat of the United States from global leadership in the economic, political and military arenas. In the international economic area, American leadership in the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank is of acute concern. For example, Kevin Rafferty, former World Bank official, writes that ?The United States has lost its way and is rapidly forfeiting claims to global financial, economic, political and moral leadership . . . Not for the first time, Obama has shown he can talk eloquently, but does not have a political clue how to get things done.? Although provocative, Rafferty?s statement is not unique. There is the perception among many of the world?s leaders that the US is disengaged and failing to provide the kind of leadership it has consistently done since World War II.
The assumption of personal faith, which used to be a staple of American culture, is no longer valid. Postmodern pluralism and relativism define our culture and personal autonomy drives individual ambition and meaning. For those of us who love Christ and see our identity as being in Christ, it is easy to become defensive and imagine ourselves as ?an aggrieved and repressed remnant.? But the New Testament offers another approach: Believers in Christ are to speak the truth in love. Jim Daly, President of Focus on the Family, argues that Christians should be a ?joyful minority. [But] we are no longer effective at persuasion because we lack humility. Some in the faith community are losing legitimacy among younger people because many Christians only speak truth and fail to do truth.?
Largely because of the procedure known as in-vitro fertilization (IVF), thousands of couples across the US are facing an ethical dilemma never faced before in history: What to do with their frozen embryos? The Department of Health and Human Services estimates that more than 600,000 frozen embryos are stored nationwide, in addition to countless more cryo-preserved eggs and sperm. [It is difficult to estimate how many frozen embryos there are worldwide.] IVF produces embryos in a petri dish, where the wife?s eggs are fertilized by the husband?s sperm. [Sometimes donor eggs and/or donor sperm are used as well.] Generally, there are multiple fertilizations and several are placed into the woman?s body in hopes one or more will attach to the uterine wall as a successful pregnancy. The rest of the robust embryos are frozen.
In 2nd Thessalonians 2, we have a brief summary of the End times, including discussion of events that must occur before the judgments of the Day of the Lord.
The Pew Research Center recently released its US Religious Landscape Study, which summarizes the conclusions from a monumental study of how American religion has changed between 2007 and 2014. Conducted among 35,000 adults in English and Spanish, the study fills in the gaps left by the data released by the US Census Bureau. This is necessary because the Bureau does not ask Americans about their religion. What follows is a salient summary of this important survey. It enables us to understand what is happening across the American religious landscape.
Paul reminds the Thessalonian people of his teachings on end times & discusses ‘The Man of Lawlessness’. We are reminded to set aside fears & wonders of this coming time, and to focus the promise that Jesus will return for His people.
A group of scientists in China has crossed an ethical line in their use of a relatively new genetic technology called gene editing. Seeking to cure a disease called beta thalassemia, an inherited blood disease, they sought to abolish the broken gene that causes it. The technique seeks to modify genetically the stem cells that
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