Samson's Jawbone

Many people have never heard of the Evangelical Free Church of America but since WW2 it has been one of the most influential evangelical denominations Known for large churches that are faithful the Bible and welcoming to Christians of diverse theological, cultural, potical and ethnic persuasion it has been a bulwark for the gospel around the world. The Church was known for expositional bible teaching that avoided typical denominational controversy like means and modes of baptism, communion, division over gifts and political divisions. The seminary affiliated with the EFCA was Trinity Evancal Divinity School, which was part of the larger Trinity International University. Altough the denominiation did not technically own the school. The school adopted the denominations statement of faith; it's Board of Education was selected by the denomination, as were faculty appointments and tenure. The school served the broad evangelical community around the world.That school sent men and wome...

Several years ago a friend who was a member of a congregation we were attending came to me and said, "Why is it that our church never says anything about homosexuality?" (This was years before the controversial gay marriage decision of the supreme court). I was not on staff or in any formal leadership of the church, so I advised the person to ask the staff. She said, "I have." The church we were attending was a large church that actually was known for outreach and ministry to homosexuals, and yet we had never heard a sermon that even addressed the topic. Later I went to the staff and asked the question, which did begin a series of discussions that ultimately lead to several public teaching venues where people were taught a biblical view of sexuality, but it took some effort to get the church to talk about it. The situation, though, definitely reflected on the church's reluctance to openly discuss social issues.  I was once reprimanded by an elder board for preac...

In this election year abortion is on the ballot. One side supports a woman's right to choose without restriction. Abortion should be legal they claim until birth, which goes beyond the recently overturned Roe v. Wade decision. Some favor abortion until the time of birth and even allow for a period of time after birth when infanticide is permitted. The other side the believes that a child's life should be protected except for rare occasions.  For Cristians the issue of abortion is particularly significant because it has to do with how we view both God and man. It is a fundamental theological issue. How does God view life, and what is our obligation to the unborn? The original Roe v. Wade decision was argued as a civil rights decision. The basis of the argument was that a woman is free to make her own private decision about her own body. The justices found that there was an "implied right to privacy within the language of the 4th Amendment of the U.S Constitution, and since ...

  On January 24, 2022 the US Supreme Court (SCOTUS) announced it's decision in Dobbs v Jackson Women's Health Organization. Their  announcement follows: “We hold that Roe and Casey must be overruled. The Constitution makes no reference to abortion, and no such right is implicitly protected by any constitutional provision, including the one on which the defenders of Roe and Casey now chiefly rely—the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment.” This decision ended, probably permanently, federal protection of the right of a woman to have an abortion without limits or restriction. It left abortion to the discretion of the states in accord with the 9th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. This decision came down even though the brief of the decision had been leaked to the media more than a month earlier.  The leak which had come from someone in one of the justices' offices gave a prelude to how polarizing this decision would be. The justices' homes were picketed in an a...