“To close the border and leave them there, that is madness.” The post Pope Francis: U.S. Should Have Open Borders Because Irish are Drunks and Italians are Mobsters appeared first on Frontpage Mag.

Was it an assassination or an accident? The post What Does the Iranian President’s Death Mean? appeared first on Frontpage Mag.

“Since I have a love for both, should I pursue pastoral ministry or academic ministry?” As a university theology professor, I frequently discuss this question, or a variation of it, with students. Those who ask have a deep love for God’s people. They can envision themselves pouring out their lives as shepherds in the local church; they also love the intellectual life and are pulled toward further study. Often, at the end of their graduate degrees, they must decide between setting sail into full-time pastoral ministry or pursuing doctoral programs for further formal theological training. This tension between pastoral and academic ministry resonates with me. I’ve often said I live a hybrid life: I have a deep love for both the local church and the academy, and I’ve served as both a pastor and a professor. At times, the tension can feel lonely. But the more I talk to others, the more I see I’m not alone. Even for those who insist on remaining active in both pastoral ministry and academia, it’s common that one field will get more attention. So how should a young person think about deciding a way forward and balancing the two loves? Spectrum of Pastor-Theologians As I’ve taken stock of my proclivities and helped students identify ways they can pursue ministry in light of their own, it has become clear there’s no one-size-fits-all approach to balancing a love for the local church and the academy. There’s a spectrum of valid ways a pastor-theologian’s dual love may be expressed. There’s a spectrum of valid ways a pastor-theologian’s dual love may be expressed. I’ve attempted to chart the spectrum between pastoral and academic ministry as I’ve observed and experienced it. You’ll see seven points on the spectrum, five of which I see as faithful options for an individual who loves both local church ministry and academic theology. The two options on the far ends ought to be avoided, but the middle five are commendable for pastor-theologians. Options to Emulate Note the arrows at the top of the spectrum. While every pastor-theologian should love both the local church and theology, the reality for most is that only one field will be our primary vocation. Some key questions for self-analysis are these: Do a feel God’s call primarily toward church members, students in a classroom, or fellow academics/researchers. In which type of ministry will I invest most of my time—church body/denomination, or an academic institution? From where to I expect to collect my full-time paycheck? Answering these questions will help, out of the gate, to determine which side of the spectrum a pastor-theologian falls on. Those on the right side of the spectrum will principally see their vocation in academic institutions while those on the left will primarily see their vocation in churches or denominational ministries. Now let’s explore each type of pastor-theologian. I’ll start with the five options in the middle that ought to be emulated. 1. Pastors Who Consume Academic Theology This option includes pastors whose primary vocation and responsibility is in the local church. Their primary income usually comes from the church, or for unpaid pastors, their primary duties are in the day-to-day ministries of a local congregation. These pastors love theology and want to stay informed about the latest trends in academic research. They read theological books, listen to theological discussions via podcasts and lectures, and stay up to date on where the theological pulse of the broader church is at any given moment. However, these pastors aren’t active contributors to academia. They don’t attend academic conferences or write articles or book reviews for academic journals. Their “production” benefits the life of a particular local church or a group of local churches rather than the broader intellectual development of the global church. 2. Pastors Who Contribute to Academic Theology Like the first option, this group of pastors sees their primary vocation in the local church or denominational ministries. The bulk of their responsibility resides in shepherding congregants. But this group still finds time and space to contribute to academic theology in some capacity. While these pastors intend to stay in the pulpit, they may also pursue a PhD, do adjunct teaching for an academic institution, write book reviews and academic articles for peer-reviewed journals, or attend academic conferences like ETS, SBL, AAR, IBR, LATC, and NAPS (even if they don’t read papers or present new research). These pastors not only consume theology but contribute to academic conversations via their lectures, writings, podcasts, and so on. 3. Bivocational Pastor-Theologians Of the five faithful options, this one is the least frequented. Individuals in this category truly split their time between the church and the academy. It’s understood by both the local churches and their academic institutions that they’ll give paid time and energy to two fields. Examples include those who occupy formal theological residencies in a local church and those who split their time between a church and a Bible college or seminary. 4. Theologians Who Actively Write for and Lead in the Local Church Number four takes our conversation to the other side of the spectrum. Theologians on this side see their primary vocation in academic institutions. They serve primarily as professors or academic administrators. The bulk of their time is spent among students at their schools. But while this person spends the bulk of his time in academia, he actively contributes to the discipleship work and ministry life of his local church. He may be an unpaid elder, or much of the writing he publishes may be aimed toward the church. Because academic institutions expect faculty members to remain up to date in their field, these theologians may write academic papers or specialized monographs, but they also regularly write popular-level publications meant to disciple a broader audience in local churches. 5. Theologians Who Write for the Academy but Are Active in the Local Church The final category is for theologians who not only spend the bulk of their time in the academy but also primarily write for the academy. These theologians spend their career energy and time in academia but remain faithful members of their local churches. Some people might question whether full-time academic labors are of practical value to the members of the local church. But it’s my contention we need faithful academic theologians who consistently publish specialist monographs and care about the local church (even if they never pastor a church or publish popular-level discipleship resources). Often conversations that begin in the halls of academia show up in local churches a few years later. So it’s good for the church that we have faithful specialist theologians with gifted intellects who have been commissioned to shape such conversations from the start. We shouldn’t bemoan “ivory tower” theologians. In fact, the larger church needs individuals with intellectual ability to sit at the academic table and defend orthodoxy in arenas where it’s consistently under scrutiny. Having said that, even theologians who publish the most significant theological monographs shouldn’t be exempt from an active life in the local church. The Lord has ordained the church, not the academy, to be the primary overseers of souls, so there’s no such thing as a faithful theologian who isn’t also a faithful church member. Options to Avoid When you look back at the chart, you’ll see two unnumbered extremes. Most students I talk to aren’t tempted to these far ends of the spectrum, but there are those in the church convinced nothing good comes from the halls of academia. Such people refer to seminary as “cemetery.” They’re convinced formal education only puffs up with pride and destroys affection and zeal for Christ. On the other hand, there are those in the academy so entrenched in the life of the mind that they fail to see how their theological reflection bears significance for church life. Though the church is the soil from where theology ought to grow, these theologians have found the everyday life of regular Christians burdensome to their task of developing and advancing theological inquiry. While I wish it didn’t need to be said, we should avoid both errors. Know Yourself. Give Thanks for Others. This spectrum of pastor-theologians isn’t perfect. Many will read this and consider themselves in between two numbers. Moreover, I haven’t even attempted to address those who serve in parachurch ministries and publishing houses. But as I continue to have this conversation with students—and in my head—these working categories help me to remember the path of faithfulness isn’t monolithic. One of the more important consequences of this working spectrum is how it has freed me to tell students, “It’s OK to be you.” It’s easy to see someone working in one of these categories I’ve outlined and begin to think there’s only one model of faithfulness. But the Lord has gifted, equipped, and called many pastor-theologians in various directions. There may be times when the Lord changes an individual’s ministry context, moving a person from pastoral ministry to academic ministry, or from the academy to the local church. But in keeping with our gifts, there are several noble paths that can be followed to glorify the Lord and serve our neighbors. As I worked on this article, I discussed the spectrum with one of the elders at my church and we diagnosed where we believe we each fit. It became clear I’m a “four” and he’s a “one.” My full-time job is at a university where I teach theology, but I love pastoral ministry and would like to pursue nonvocational pastoral ministry as long as the Lord allows. My pastor is full-time at our two-year-old church plant, and he wants to spend the rest of his days shepherding a local congregation. On most days, we have no desire for one other’s ministry, but what became clear as we talked is that we’re thankful for and need each other. Pastor-theologians across the spectrum benefit from one another’s gifts. Pastor-theologians across the spectrum benefit from one another’s gifts. Those of us in the “four” category often find most of what we read is by those in the “five” category. Those in the “one” and “two” categories tend to read what those in the “four” category write. On the other side, those in the “four” and “five” categories are almost always shepherded and pastored by those in the “one” and “two” categories. We need each other, and the church needs all of us. However you keep together your loves for the local church and the academy, may the Lord use your hybrid love for his glory.

The most influential source of sex education in America today is pornography. For the majority of young people today—including most Christians—attitudes about sex and sexual practices are being shaped wholly, if not exclusively, by pornography. This is nothing new, of course, but it’s becoming increasingly dangerous because porn is becoming increasingly violent. Numerous studies have confirmed this finding. For example, a 2020 study published in the Archives of Sexual Behavior looked at a random sampling of videos on the top two most viewed porn sites in the world. The study found physical aggression against women present in 44.3 percent of one site’s videos and 33.9 percent of the other’s. Put simply, between one-third and almost one-half of porn videos depict some sort of violence—and in 97 percent of cases, they depict violence against women. This normalization of violence is spilling over into the real world. Three years ago, a study published in the Journal of American College Health found that 26.5 percent of female undergraduate students had been choked during their most recent sexual encounter. Additionally, 24.8 percent of men reported they choked their partner in their most recent sexual encounter. (Notice they weren’t merely responding that this had happened sometime in their life but that it happened in their most recent sexual experience.) A more recent survey found the practice has increased by about 50 percent in those three years. Nearly two-thirds of women in the survey (5,000 students at an anonymized “major Midwestern university”) said a partner had choked them during sex, with one-third in their most recent encounter. The rate of those women who said they were between the ages 12 and 17 the first time that happened had shot up to 40 percent from one in four. Why would men do that? Because they see it happening in porn and think it’s what women want. Why do the women go along with it? Because they too see it in porn and think it must be what they’re supposed to want. External forces mold our wants, often without us realizing it. Few influences are more prevalent and influential in shaping sexual desire today than pornography. One study found that men watch porn for 5 to 17 minutes a day—between 30 and 103 hours a year. If a boy starts looking at pornography at age 12, then by the time he’s 32, he has watched between 600 and 2,000 hours of porn videos. He’ll have been shaped for two decades by the porn industry and by that industry feeding him increasingly more extreme images and examples of sexual acts. External forces mold our wants, often without us realizing it. Few influences are more prevalent and influential in shaping sexual desire today than pornography. Because these images are being fed to him when his personality is still being formed and his sexuality is developing, he begins to confuse his desires with those he sees in porn. He thinks that’s what he desires when the reality is that he’s been conditioned to want those things by the porn industry. But God didn’t design us to want to inflict pain on others during sex, nor did he design us to want that for ourselves. It’s not a natural desire or a natural part of the sexual process. That’s why in earlier times it was considered a perversion. Such actions pervert the nature of sex—which is meant to be beautiful and good—into something ugly and evil. Such acts twist sex in such a way that its purposes, such as creating a one-flesh union, are destroyed. Why Violence Has No Place in Marital Intimacy Christians need to be clear that such acts of violence have no place in sexual intimacy. Here are three reasons we must reject sexual violence as incompatible with God’s design for marital intimacy. 1. Sex was designed by God, and he prohibits violence. The Bible has a lot to say about violence, but let’s look at just one verse as an example. Proverbs 3:31 says, “Do not envy a man of violence and do not choose any of his ways.” We don’t want to adopt the ways of the violent because they’re generally incompatible with the command to love one’s neighbor. It’s possible, though extremely rare, that the best way to love your neighbor is through the use of violence. You may, for instance, need to resort to violence to prevent him from harming himself or others. But there’s never a time when violence is appropriate within the context of marital intimacy. 2. People get hurt by violent acts, and we’re called to preserve the life of our neighbor. The sixth commandment compels us to preserve our neighbor’s bodily well-being (Ex. 20:13). Why then would we engage in practices that can cause so much harm? Such practices as choking, also known as sexual strangulation, are highly dangerous and can lead to serious health risks and even death. Some of the physical dangers include oxygen deprivation, cardiac arrest, stroke, cognitive impairment, damaged blood vessels or larynx, and even death. Equally harmful is the psychological damage it can inflict. Engaging in such a dangerous sexual practice can lead to anxiety, depression, psychological distress, and even post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). 3. The nature of sex is contrary to violence. Violence is characterized by harm, control, and fear. In contrast, intimacy is built on trust, mutual respect, and emotional closeness. Violence is therefore incompatible with intimacy. Love for our spouse should lead us to treat them with gentleness, respect and consideration. There is never a justification for violence, coercion, or abuse within the sacred bond of marriage. Intimacy can only flourish when both partners feel safe from harm. The effects of sexual violence before marriage can also inhibit intimacy within marriage, even with a partner that isn’t violent. Debby Herbenick notes that choking is among the most frequently listed sex acts young women said had scared them. “At times some of them literally think someone is assaulting them but they don’t know,” says Herbenick. “Those are the only sexual experiences for some people. And it’s not just once they’ve gotten naked. They’ll say things like, ‘I’ve only tried to make out with someone once because he started choking and hitting me.’” Some might ask, “What about consent and pleasure? What if a spouse consents to some act that might appear violent, such as choking? What if one of us gets pleasure from such acts?” For secular culture, consent has become the one and only constraint on sexual acts. If two people have given their consent—that is, if they give their permission to engage in certain sexual acts—then the acts are allowable. No questions asked; no judgments allowed. To express disapproval would be “shaming” and antithetical to the norm of “sex positivity.” This minimalist standard is being adopted by an increasing number of Christians. Many have come to believe that if both the man and woman consent and at least one of them derives pleasure from the act, then it must be permissible—especially within marriage. They fail to recognize how such thinking is due to the corruption of moral reasoning by sin. Extend Truth, Grace, and Hope Even secular counselors are beginning to express concern about sexual violence. As one study concluded, “Clinicians need to be aware of recent potential shifts in sexual behaviors, particularly those such as choking that may lead to harm.” We owe it to those caught up in such corrupted sexual desires to tell them the truth. To those who’ve been influenced by pornography and feel trapped by violent sexual desires, we need to communicate that there’s hope and healing in Christ. We must walk with them as they begin replacing those false images with truth from God’s Word about his design for healthy intimacy. Pornography doesn’t just affect men, of course. Many women feel immense pressure to conform to the violent and degrading acts normalized in porn. They may believe that if they don’t consent to aggressive sex acts, they’re prudish or will lose their husbands’ interest. In truth, any sexual coercion is the opposite of the selfless, sacrificial love husbands are called to show their wives (Eph. 5:25). To those who’ve been influenced by pornography and feel trapped by violent sexual desires, we need to communicate that there’s hope and healing in Christ. To help young Christians who are preparing for or who have entered the covenant of marriage, it’s crucial we have frank discussions like this about God’s design for sexuality and the ways that design has been distorted in our violent, pornified culture. We must compassionately help them understand how those desires have been shaped by outside influences rather than placed there by God. Truly satisfying marital intimacy flows from sex as God intended it—a beautiful, holy union that brings a man and woman together as one flesh. Pastors, parents, and counselors must boldly proclaim this truth, especially to the younger generations most influenced by our sexualized culture. We need to show them how God’s boundaries around sexuality, including the prohibition against sexual violence, are for our good and his glory. As the church, we have a responsibility to paint a compelling vision of God-honoring sexuality and to graciously guide people away from the counterfeits that only bring harm. Ultimately, all of us live in a pornified culture to such a degree that we need to “take every thought captive” (2 Cor. 10:5) and seek to align our minds with God’s design for sexuality. The issue goes beyond just the violent aspects promoted in pornography. Each of us must repent of ways we’ve embraced the world’s distorted vision of sex and instead pursue the beautiful intimacy God intends for marriage. Only by basing our views of love and intimacy in God’s Word can we find freedom from the lies and temptations of our sexualized culture.

A fireball races across the skies over Western Europe on Saturday night, May 18, 2024.The sky over Western Europe became a sensational attraction over the weekend as a blazing blue fireball raced across…

Beyond the point of no return.

The following article, Ignorant: ‘View’ Hag Joy Behar Decries U.S. Constitution As ‘Un-American’ (Video), was first published on Conservative Firing Line. Joy Behar, one of the ignorant twits co-hosting ABC News’ “Hour of Lying Liberal Hate and Propaganda,” also known as “The View,” doesn’t seem to think the U.S. Constitution, or at least two important parts of it, are “American,” Newsbusters reported. According to Behar, lifetime appointments to the Supreme Court and the Electoral College — … Continue reading Ignorant: ‘View’ Hag Joy Behar Decries U.S. Constitution As ‘Un-American’ (Video) ...