1. Jason’s fun Cooper story.
2. O.J.’s fun bed bugs story.
3. Eddie’s New Year’s Resolutions.
4. Jason hates the mall.
5. Tech Resources

Links Mentioned in this Episode

1. http://www.go2web20.net/
2. Web Conferencing –  http://www.dimdim.com/
3. docs.google.com
4. http://www.zoecarnate.com/
5. http://ylhelp.com/
6. http://www.autolyrix.com/

Let’s talk. Tell us what you think or submit a question for upcoming podcasts.

Good grief, they just don’t get it.  The Bible is God’s story of his redemptive plan for his fallen creation.  Of course there aren’t any illustrations of perfect marriage (or perfect people for that matter) in the Bible, but that doesn’t change God’s instructions for what’s ideal – what’s right.  These are Jesus own words in Matthew 19:4-9.

And He answered and said, “Have you not read that He who created them from the beginning MADE THEM MALE AND FEMALE, and said, ‘FOR THIS REASON A MAN SHALL LEAVE HIS FATHER AND MOTHER AND BE JOINED TO HIS WIFE, AND THE TWO SHALL BECOME ONE FLESH’?

“So they are no longer two, but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, let no man separate.”

They said to Him, “Why then did Moses command to GIVE HER A CERTIFICATE OF DIVORCE AND SEND her AWAY?”

He said to them, “Because of your hardness of heart Moses permitted you to divorce your wives; but from the beginning it has not been this way.

“And I say to you, whoever divorces his wife, except for immorality, and marries another woman commits adultery.”

Jesus points them to the ideal as established by God from the beginning. 

And, I love (only because it made me laugh) the connection Miller makes between what “progressive” scholars believe and fact.

Paul was tough on homosexuality, though recently progressive scholars have argued that his condemnation of men who “were inflamed with lust for one another” (which he calls “a perversion”) is really a critique of the worst kind of wickedness: self-delusion, violence, promiscuity and debauchery. In his book “The Arrogance of Nations,” the scholar Neil Elliott argues that Paul is referring in this famous passage to the depravity of the Roman emperors, the craven habits of Nero and Caligula, a reference his audience would have grasped instantly. “Paul is not talking about what we call homosexuality at all,” Elliott says…

Religious objections to gay marriage are rooted not in the Bible at all, then, but in custom and tradition (and, to talk turkey for a minute, a personal discomfort with gay sex that transcends theological argument).

So let me get this straight.  It doesn’t matter what theologians of the past 2000 years have to say.  The only thing that matters is what “progressive” (which we all know is really just code word for liberal) scholars have to say about it and then all the sudden objections to gay marriage are no longer rooted scripture.

What really gets me is that people are going to eat this crap up when it’s just not true.  I know, the Holy Spirit is bigger than Lisa Miller, but ahhhhhhhh we can’t just rewrite the Bible to suit our political agenda, our perverted cravings, or our ideas about what will make us happy.  Life isn’t about being happy.  It’s about reuniting with our loving Father through Jesus Christ, and then being reunited with our fellow human beings, also through Christ.

Believe me, it would be much easier if I could just go along with culture and just say “whatever”.  But there’s just something in me that says, “You know.  The law is there for a reason.  It’s there to convict us of our sin.  It’s there to show us we need a Savior.  If it weren’t for right & wrong, then we wouldn’t need Christ.”

There is some truth in Miller’s piece – the part written by God.  She just happens to take it completely out of context and draw incomplete conclusions from it.  For instance,

In the Christian story, the message of acceptance for all is codified. Jesus reaches out to everyone, especially those on the margins, and brings the whole Christian community into his embrace. The Rev. James Martin, a Jesuit priest and author, cites the story of Jesus revealing himself to the woman at the well— no matter that she had five former husbands and a current boyfriend—as evidence of Christ’s all-encompassing love.

It’s true that Christ’s love is all-encompassing, but consider the story of the woman caught in adultery.  When Jesus rose from writing on the ground he said that he didn’t condemn her, but then told her to go and leave her life of sin.  The Christ connection between love & condemnation for sin is that Jesus loves us regardless of our sin, because he paid for it on the cross.  That doesn’t mean we should willingly embrace sin and say it’s okay.  It’s paid for, so we can be free to live life without worrying about our salvation, to live abundant life in relationship with Jesus and our fellow man.  Abundant life does not include blatant willing sin or the justification of it.  It just doesn’t! 

Many schools around the country use Newsweek for current event discussions in the classroom, so our teenage friends are being fed this ignorant view point.  Many teachers will not have the background, Biblical perspective or even the common sense to point out the fallacies, so it’s up to us to be wise enough to teach them that Jesus loves (and we should love) regardless sin, but that sin matters.  Jesus gave up his life to pay for our sin, so we shouldn’t take it lightly, pretend it’s not there, or worse yet promote it as acceptable.  If we do that, then we wouldn’t need Jesus at all.

GetReligion.org has a whole analysis on the Miller piece that’s worth reading, too.  Update: And, Green Leaf does an analysis of John Corvino’s writings about the Morality of Homosexuality. 

Oh, and just one more thing.  Let’s not stoop to the level of comparing cultural acceptance of those who choose to live out a sinful lifestyle with cultural acceptance of racial differences.  The two issues are completely different. 

Not since 1860, when the country’s pulpits were full of preachers pronouncing on slavery, pro and con, has one of our basic social (and economic) institutions been so subject to biblical scrutiny. But whereas in the Civil War the traditionalists had their James Henley Thornwell—and the advocates for change, their Henry Ward Beecher—this time the sides are unevenly matched. All the religious rhetoric, it seems, has been on the side of the gay-marriage opponents, who use Scripture as the foundation for their objections. 

Miller’s attempt to connect this debate with the debate over slavery is simply an empty emotional argument.  Choice & race are not the same.  And, please don’t tell me the issue here is not about choice, because how we live our our lives with Christ or apart from Him is always about choice.

Update:

I just read a blog post that really got me thinking about this from another angle.  As a Christian who believes everything points to Jesus Christ in some way, marriage more than almost anything else is a tangible example of the relationship between Christ & His bride, the church.  In addition, it is an example of the trinity – plural & singular at the same time.  Granted both examples are imperfect, but they are given to us by God’s grace to give us a glimpse of what He is really like and how closely knit we are to be with Christ.  While there are a lot of practical reasons to argue for the protection of marriage between one man & one woman – most notably procreation – the argument of marriage as visible examples of God’s relationships is a powerful spiritual argument.

Relevant Links:

• Christianity Today is Looking for a Serious Conversation
• Albert Mohler – Turning the Bible on its Head — Newsweek Goes for Gay Marriage
• Stop the ACLU - The Bible According To Newsweek
• Jesus Lives! – Newsweek: The Bible and Gay Marriage

Teen Guys

1. YouTube
2. Facebook
3. Google
4. Yahoo!
5. ESPN

Teen Girls

1. Facebook
2. Google
3. YouTube
4. MySpace
5. Yahoo!

College Guys

1. Facebook
2. ESPN
3. Google
4. CNN
5. YouTube

College Girls

1. Facebook
2. Google
3. Yahoo!
4. PerezHilton.com
5. MySpace

Here are the top 10 lists.

1. You can look around at church and notice that everybody is basically the same age and they look and dress pretty much like you do.
2. You can’t stand singing a worship song that was “in” five years ago—much less singing a hymn from another century.
3. You believe social justice is more important than evangelism OR evangelism is more important than social justice.
4. The church you go to is so dimly lit during worship that you can’t see the person singing next to you, much less the person singing across the room.
5. You’ve attended a “leadership” conference where you learned more about organization and props than proclamation and prayer.
6. Your goal in spending time with non-Christians is to demonstrate that you’re really no different than they are and to prove this you curse like a sailor, drink like a fish, and smoke like a chimney.
7. You’ve concluded that everything new is better than anything old OR that everything old is better than anything new.
8. You think that the way Jesus lived is more important than what Jesus said–that his deeds were more important than his doctrine.
9. You believe that the best way to change our culture is to elect a certain kind of politician.
10. The church you’ve chosen is defined more by its reaction to “boring” churches than by its response to a needy world.
11. You’ve decided that everything done by the church you grew up in was way wrong and you’re now, thankfully, part of a missional “community” that does everything right.
12. The one verse you wish wasn’t in the Bible is John 14:6 where Jesus says, “I am the way, the truth, and the life, and no one comes to the Father but by me.” That’s way too narrow!

The Unfashionable Quiz  - By Tullian Tchividjian.

This is a refreshing story from the Chicago Tribune – Practicing abstinence, bride and groom have never kissed.

When the officiant tells Claudaniel Fabien he can kiss his bride at the altar Saturday, no one will fault the couple for a little “should I tilt my head this way, or that way?” awkwardness.

It will be the couple’s very first kiss.

In his Song of Solomon series, Tommy Nelson answers the question, “How far can we go?” by using an analogy of a cliff.  We don’t want our kids to ask how close they can get to the edge.  Let’s just stay away from the edge.

Of course there are the folks who think this is crazy, those who ask how you know he/she’s right for you unless you try her out, the live together before you get married just so you know crowd. 

To them, Melody responds, “You can’t take the car out of the parking lot until you pay for it.”

Read the whole story.

Some highlights…

In the past year, 30% of U.S. high school students have stolen from a store and 64% have cheated on a test, according to a new, large-scale survey suggesting that Americans are too apathetic about ethical standards.

Michael Josephson, the institute’s founder and president, said he was most dismayed by the findings about theft. The survey found that 35% of boys and 26% of girls — 30% overall — acknowledged stealing from a store within the past year. One-fifth said they stole something from a friend; 23% said they stole something from a parent or other relative.

• Cheating in school is rampant and getting worse. Sixty-four percent of students cheated on a test in the past year and 38% did so two or more times, up from 60% and 35% in a 2006 survey.

• Thirty-six percent said they used the Internet to plagiarize an assignment, up from 33% in 2004.

• Forty-two percent said they sometimes lie to save money — 49% of the boys and 36% of the girls.

Despite such responses, 93% of the students said they were satisfied with their personal ethics and character, and 77% affirmed that “when it comes to doing what is right, I am better than most people I know.”

As I gained a little prominence as an author in the youth ministry world, people began asking me my opinion on homosexuality.  I often quoted one of my seminary professors, Bill Pannell, who was involved in the civil rights movement.  I had lunch with him during my last semester at seminary and as we drove back to campus he said to me, “Civil rights and abortion will be nothing compared to how the church has to deal with homosexuality.  I’m glad it’s your generation and not mine who’ll have to figure that out.”

With that in mind, I always responded, “I’m holding that issue in abeyance.  I haven’t made up my mind yet, and I’m in no hurry to.  Homosexuality,” I would say, “I one issue that I don’t want to get wrong.”

And yet, all the time I could feel myself drifting toward acceptance that gay persons are fully human persons and should be afforded all of the cultural and ecclesial benefits that I am.

I’m not sure why this issue is so darn difficult for so many Christians.  From my perspective, I see that we have 3 responsibilities when it comes to this issue.

1. We need to recognize sin as sin.  Good grief, the Bible says it’s wrong and not just in the Old Testament for the folks who like to throw that in our faces.

2. We need to love everyone the same.  Look, we are all sinners.  That’s the bottom line.  So, there is no distinction between someone who is giving into gay temptations and someone who is giving into heterosexual temptations.  We are all in the same boat.  I reject Jones’ implication that if we do not agree with gay marriage that we somehow don’t think homosexuals are “fully human persons”.  That’s just ridiculous.

3. We need not be conformed to this culture.  Loving someone and endorsing a lifestyle that is clearly wrong are two completely different things.  “But, shouldn’t we support people being happy?”  No!  There’s nothing biblical about God promising us happiness.  In fact, to the contrary we are told to be content and thankful in all circumstances.  Argue all you want about science and equality, the fact of the matter is scripture is clear, and there are plenty of recovering homosexuals who have chosen to live within God’s will.

I’m all for letting people live however they want to live, but when you ask me what I think about it I’m gonna tell you what I think the Bible says about it.  Furthermore, when those people try to politically force me & the church to embrace something or worse yet, somehow try to connect sexual preference with civil rights (as Jones does in his “fully human persons” statement) making those who disagree out to be bigots, I likewise feel compelled to speak the truth.

We live in a wishy washy, hugs & muffins world, and many in the church feel compelled to not talk about sin, in a naive effort to reach out to the unchurched.  But, Jesus calls us to repent & believe.  I believe (because I’ve seen it) that people are still convicted when we talk about the truth of sin.  It’s not just God’s love & forgiveness that matters.  If there weren’t sin, then why would we need that love & forgiveness?

If you’re looking for something relevant for leadership and/or campaigners, this might do the trick.  It’s a post from Buzzard Blog titled Thinking Biblically About Facebook.  It’s pretty simple stuff, but would probably bring up some great conversation.

Some of the subtopics include…

• We’ve grown up in an age of unprecedented technological development
• We must see our engagement with technology as a discipleship issue
• 9 Potentially Negative Uses/Dangers of Facebook
• 6 Facebook Opportunities: 6 Ways to Love God and Love Others Through Facebook

Then, after making a list of things we work so hard at to build ourselves up in the sight of others (and more importantly ourselves) we read verses that shattered the entire list.  We talked about the fact that we literally have everything in Christ, hope, freedom, brothers & sisters, peace, etc. and that relying on any of our own attempts to create whatever we think will bring us some sort of better life is just foolish.

We spent a lot of time talking about how we can approach our kids who are all stuck in the same place we are.  It’s just sin really – us working hard, creating our own gods, denying that we need the one true God.

But, not only are our kids attempting to build up their self-esteem, so are their parents.  In attempts to be good parents, they are telling their children that they can do things on their own that aren’t realistic.  Check out this quote from a Yahoo article about a study on self-esteem.

High school students’ responses have crossed over into a really unrealistic realm, with three-fourths of them expecting performance that’s effectively in the top 20 percent.

So, let me get this straight. 75% of kids believe they are capable for performing in the top 20%. Hmmm.

Of course there’s a fine line between encouraging kids to do their best and enabling them to continue to make for themselves God’s that compete with our righteously jealous God. At some point, aren’t we all going to learn that life is about Jesus Christ, that we are not in the top 20%, and that doesn’t really matter anyway. We are sinful, utterly sinful. If we really want to do percentages, we are either 0% or 100%.

I’m 36 and most of the leaders in the room last night haven’t even reached their 21st birthday, and we all confessed to struggling with most of the things on that list. So, I know it’s going to be a life struggle to continue to be in Christ, in the world but not of the world.

Today I came across this quote from Lee Atwater, former Republican National Committee chairman (probably with a good self-esteem) and it fit well with what I was thinking from last night. This was written a month before he died of cancer.

My illness helped me to see that what was missing in society is what was missing in me: a little heart, a lot of brotherhood. The ’80s were about acquiring — acquiring wealth, power, prestige. I know. I acquired more wealth, power, and prestige than most. But you can acquire all you want and still feel empty. What power wouldn’t I trade for a little more time with my family? What price wouldn’t I pay for an evening with friends? It took a deadly illness to put me eye to eye with that truth, but it is a truth that the country, caught up in its ruthless ambitions and moral decay, can learn on my dime. I don’t know who will lead us through the ’90s, but they must be made to speak to this spiritual vacuum at the heart of American society, this tumor of the soul.

It had a huge weekend by the way. 

I haven’t read the book & I probably won’t see the movie.  I just don’t like fiction very much, and I don’t have a whole lot of money to spend on movies when I could be going to Wendy’s.  But, I know this movie and the book are huge, so I thought I’d put some relevant links from some Youth Ministry folks who are talking about it.

Jonathon at the Source put up a post this morning with a couple reviews.  In addition, the Source also has this article, “I’m In Love With A Vampire”, in their Youth Culture Window that has some good insight.

A lot of parents are asking me, “Should I let my kids see this film?” A question I have yet to answer with just a “yes” or “no.” instead, I share my concerns (like in our Youth Culture Window article and my blog about it) and then leave them with, “it’s your call.”

This is the blog post he refers to - Do Parents Really Know About Twilight?