Showing results for "George Moore" in Religion & Spirituality

While the Bible is enough to take us to heaven, knowing history helps us live more wisely on our way. George Orwell observed in 1984 that those who pay attention to history have the potential to influence the future. Stuck in the Present offers a grounding in historical consciousness that allows us to better navigate the daily bombardment of information. Amnesia about the past makes us vulnerable to the shackles of modern-day hucksters who try to convince us that the present is all that matters.

Family is difficult because family - every family - is an echo of the gospel. Family can be the source of some of the most transcendent human joy, and family can leave us crumpled up on the side of the road. Family can make us who we are, and family can break our hearts. Why would this social arrangement have that much power, for good or for ill, over us?

As the culture changes all around us, it is no longer possible to pretend that we are a Moral Majority. That may be bad news for America, but it can be good news for the church. What's needed now, in shifting times, is neither a doubling-down on the status quo nor a pullback into isolation. Instead we need a church that speaks to social and political issues with a bigger vision in mind: that of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

In the kingdom of God, it is not us against them. The problem of racism stretches back as far humanity's origin in the book of Genesis. Brother pitted against brother, tribe against tribe - people have warred against one another, fueled by contempt for racial differences. Yet the Gospel is a message of reconciliation. The kingdom of God is us reconciled to one another.

So often in America, we define who we are by what we do. We introduce ourselves by our job titles. We ask, "What do you do?" to be polite in small talk. We define others by their occupations. But there are good reasons to connect what you do with your time, whether that is 9-to-5 work or managing a household full of children. God created us to work, not as judgment but in cooperation with a mandate given to humanity long before the fall. Your work isn't who you are, but it is central to why you are here.

We live in a society of broken homes. Having parents in the home doesn’t mean that parenting is actually happening. Parenting is a God-given task that ensures young children are protected and nurtured into maturity in the fear and admonition of the Lord. But America and the church faces a crisis of parenting: detached or absentee fathers, single mothers, and grandparents raising the next generation. What’s more, how should parents actually parent?

The problem isn't sex. God designed sex, and sex is good. Sex is a powerful union that brings men and women together. But when sex is distorted by sin, the misuse of our sexuality can alienate us from one another, causing immense harm and pain. Enter pornography - the most prevalent distortion of sexual sin in America. Pornography is not only a problem in terms of personal morality but a social epidemic that is making the possibility of sexually fulfilled marriages harder to achieve.