Wisdom worth sharing, words worth remembering.
I don't know of many evangelicals who want to deny gay couples their legal rights. However most of us don't want to call it marriage because we think that word has religious connotations and we're not ready to see it used in ways that offend us.
If a guy is intimidated by a woman in leadership he has real problems with his own concepts of masculinity. That's a harsh statement but I believe it to be true.
I am not suggesting that all those missionary organizations working in Haiti should pack up and go home but I am urging them to understand that Haiti does not need clever Americans with newly contrived schemes for saving their country.
Clinton's successor in the White House George W. Bush was committed to expanding government spending for faith-based initiatives.
Getting the government to put money into social programs run by religious institutions is a practice that started during the Clinton years when Bill Clinton advocated the AmeriCorps program.
After-school tutoring programs care for the elderly shelters for the homeless disaster relief work and a variety of other services would all benefit from government funding.
If marriage really is a sacred institution then why is the government controlling it especially in a nation that affirms separation of church and state?
From the beginning there have been some religious leaders who greeted the funding of faith-based social services by government with ambivalence.
President Bush once said that marriage is a sacred institution and should be reserved for the union of one man and one woman. If this is the case – and most Americans would agree with him on this – then I have to ask: Why is the government at all involved in marrying people?
But I think it's up to a local congregation to determine whether or not a marriage should be blessed of God. And it shouldn't be up to the government.
It is hard to say what the future holds but this is probable – it won't be just like the past.
Certain things happened in the early church. Women who had never had any freedom suddenly have the ability to stand up and speak and be treated as equals within the life of the church.