Links To Go (July 9, 2015)

As always, links are provided for information and entertainment; no endorsement nor agreement is implied


Responding to Obergefell v. Hodges: The Ruling and Its Implications for Religious Freedom

Now, in the immediate aftermath of the Supreme Court’s decision in Obergefell v. Hodges that the Constitution requires all states to recognize marriage equality, we’ve witnessed an outpouring of prophecies that the apocalypse for religious freedom is near. These prophets of doom are just wrong, except in one crucial respect.Virtually all of the publicly expressed predictions of the threat to religious freedom are either wrong or significantly overstated


Christian churches urged to fly U.S. flag below another

First it was one church. Then a second joined. Now there’s an online presence and a campaign for people of faith across the nation to recognize that God comes first, ahead of nation, and that means the Stars and Stripes will be accorded second place, behind the Christian flag.


Why the Average American May Be Worse Off Than Greece

  • Americans actually have more debt relative to income earned
  • Greece’s debt can be wiped out, but not yours
  • Greece can print money, but you can’t

Dear Programming Director For The Trinity Broadcasting Network

So I have a request. Before you air another episode of Benny Hinn asking for more money and delivering miracles through sleight of hand and theological smoke and mirrors, could you please make sure that Mr. HInn’s crusade is held in the parking lot that I was driving through on Tuesday morning?
If Mr. Hinn really does have the ability to perform supernatural miracles for a small fee, I saw a lot of people on Tuesday who could sure use one.
On the other hand, maybe, just maybe, you, Mr. Hinn and the other preachers on your network would cool it on the magic tricks if you actually had to look hurting people in the eye. Real hurting people. Not plants pretending to feel the anointing.


Ten Marks of a Kingdom-Shaped Church

  1. When the cruciform character of King Jesus shapes every major dimension of your local church.
  2. When your church perceives itself as a people redeemed and rescued from the world and evil by king Jesus.
  3. When your church knows it is governed by Lord Jesus.
  4. When your church challenges the lordless lords of our culture and country.
  5. When your church seeks to be a kingdom kind of community.
  6. When your church is known above all for loving one another and loving your neighbors.
  7. When your church establishes justice and peace within the local fellowship and then extends that justice and peace into the community.
  8. When your church cannot avoid being people of “good works” in the public sector.
  9. When your church becomes “sacred space” or “kingdom space” in your community.
  10. When your church’s spiritual disciplines foster these themes.

The God Who Redeems Your Regrets

We all have regrets but they don’t have to speak louder than God’s redemption. Flip through the Bible and you’ll meet several God followers who made disastrous choices. And you’ll see something else, every time they turned back to God; he took those regrets and exchanged them for something better.


Last Words…or Are They? Thoughts on Parenting College Students

You may have heard the frightening statistic that eighty-six percent of evangelical youth drop out of church after high school. While the dropout rate is biggest during this transitional time, it is not nearly that large. The reality is the vast majority of youth raised by evangelical parents are still evangelicals as adults. I want you to have hope and be encouraged.


6.5 Myths About Expat Life

Myth 1: Adventure
Myth 2: Living is the same as traveling
Myth 3: Feels like home
Myth 4: Expat life is always fulfilling and purposeful
Myth 5: Expat life is one of luxury, comfort, and ease
Myth 5.5: Expat life is one of suffering and deprivation
Myth 6: Expats are heroic


Ancient Ritual Bath Found Under Unsuspecting Family’s Floorboards

The discovered miqwe was carved out of rock and plastered according to the laws of purity appearing in the Halacha — a collective body of Jewish religious laws derived from the written and oral Torah. The doors on the living room floor opened to a staircase leading down to the bath’s immersion pool. Traditionally, both men and women entered the immersion pool to purify themselves after various events, like intercourse, menstruation and eating meat from an animal that dies naturally, among others, according to the Book of Leviticus, the third book of the Hebrew Bible.


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