Free Republic

The purported value of ethical relativism, the idea that there are no transcendent, binding rules for right and wrong that all humans are morally required to submit to, is that it allows us to live in peace. That is, if you have your ethics, and I have my ethics, well then there is no real need for us to fight over whose ethic wins. (So long, as, of course, our lives never actually cross.) The real value is far more sinister. We find ethical relativism appealing because we find our own guilt unappealing. Though we seek to suppress such knowledge,...

The election of 2012 fused principles of state and church demanding Americans follow one distinct path. The country chose to follow a path that is fiscally illogical, covetous of private property, dismissive to personal initiative, mythological towards freedom, repentant to a planet, subjugating of the religious to the secular, deadly to the unborn, disrespectful to the sick and aged, encouraging to the sexually deviant, and destructive to family. So how could our nation, so strongly and freely steeped in Judeo-Christian principles, have chosen such a path willingly? First, let us quickly address the Judeo portion of our heritage. Quite simply,...

Why do you call Me, "Lord, Lord"' and do not do what I say? — Jesus (Luke 6:46, NASB) In this series I've said that our lawless government is at least partly the fault of lawless churches — social clubs, really, that exercise no discernment, enforce no standards, and teach more pop psychology than timeless truth. Naturally, lawless churches are populated with lawless Christians, the greatest absurdity of them all. "What fellowship have righteousness and lawlessness?" asked Paul (1 Corinthians 6:14). How can I walk North and South at the same time? No, I'm not expecting "sinless perfection" of anyone....

Adriane Thatcher has written a book (Savage Text) where in he offers an argument for the acceptance of homosexuality in the Christian church. His argument runs along the lines that we should look at the passages that condemn homosexuality as savage text (text that renders scripture holy) – in the same way we should look to passages in the Old Testament that show God’s predilection for child killing, his wrath and vengeful wars against local tribes as savage text. These texts should not be used by the church because they contradict the loving character and message of Jesus. It should...

An Open Letter To Mr. Grace-Loving Antinomian There seems to be a fear out there that the preaching of radical grace produces serial killers. Or, to put it in more theological terms, too much emphasis on the indicatives of the gospel leads to antinomianism (a lawless version of Christianity that believes the directives and commands of God don’t matter). My problem with this fear is that I’ve never actually met anyone who has been truly gripped by God’s amazing grace in the gospel who then doesn’t care about obeying him. As I have said before: antinomianism happens not when we...

And what is the condition for this absolute forgiveness? And what must we do to reach "imputed righteousness"? Very simple. John 3:16 “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. 17 For God sent the Son into the world, not to condemn the world,but that the world might be saved through him. 18 He who believes in him is not condemned; he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son Of GOD.

A well-placed and trusted source tells me that, any minute now, Attorney General Eric Holder will issue a statement announcing that it will no longer defend so-called Defense of Marriage Act lawsuits in court. The source believes DOJ had come to the conclusion that heightened scrutiny would apply, and that these cases cannot be defended in court. A 530d letter has been sent to Congress informing it that, if it wants to defend the statute, it is free to do so. A case is pending now that has a filing deadline of March 11. This is huge, folks. By definitively...

Fear is a powerful motivator. We’ve grown used to it being used in politics to argue for (or against) certain economic, immigration, or military proposals. We sometimes don’t recognize its misuse in the church. This week, the fear of antinomianism (which means the rejection of God’s Law as a standard of righteous action required of God’s covenant people) has been raised. There have been genuine antinomians in church history. There are many today, who set aside God’s law as the standard for God’s righteous judgment, usually substituting their own prescriptions. However, accusations have been raised over the last few days...

The Standard-Examiner newspaper, in Ogden, Utah, reported on a gathering at Elim Evangelical Lutheran Church with Bishop Allan Bjornberg of the Rocky Mountain ELCA Synod. Exposing the ELCA found a couple of statements in the article noteworthy. The Standard-Examiner reports 1) The bishop “. . . said the synod supports 240 full-time missionaries, which is half the number of two generations ago. However, Bjornberg said a lower number is not a bad thing. ‘We did the job well,’ he said, noting that more missionaries are not needed.” 2) The bishop “. . . said fellowshipping continues to be at the...

The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) joined 56 denominations and faith-based organizations in calling on the U.S. Senate to leave intact the power of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to regulate greenhouse gas emissions and other pollutants, including ozone emissions. The denominations and faith-based organizations released a joint letter to the Senate Nov. 23 in which they stated they "are called to protect and serve God's great creation and work for justice for all of God's people." "We believe that the United States must take all appropriate and available actions to prevent the worst impacts of climate change. We...

J. Reversionism and Degeneracy. 1. Reversionism is the actual status of Christian degeneracy. This is true of both moral and immoral degeneracy. The eight stages of reversionism are a breakdown of the various facets of degeneracy. a. Reaction and distraction. In polarized fragmentation you react to people, situations, and are hypersensitive - the conflict between legalism and antinomianism. Your priorities change and Bible doctrine is no longer one of your priorities. (1) Reaction from legalism or antinomianism leads to negative volition to Bible doctrine. (2) Distraction is caused by apathy, indifference, wrong priorities, in which the antinomian believer places sexual...

There are millions of church going believers who really are confused and conflicted on central issues of the faith. Issue 1: Are you really saved? You may say "Yes" but you may not be sure because of the legal requirements of the group you joined. Issue 2: When do I receive my salvation? When I believe or when I die after a trial to determine if I did all the right things like baptism, repentance ,lived in obedience, confession , "born again", absolution from the priesthood,tithed,lived sinless and on and on. Did you observe the sabath? was your "church" attendance...

Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) Americans are a diverse, extraordinary, resilient, and passionate group of forgiving men and women. I wouldn't be standing beside them demanding full and equal treatment under the law and speaking out against the harm caused by religion-based bigotry at the National Equality March in Washington, D.C., on Oct. 11 if I thought they were not created in God's image the same as myself, same as my family, as we all are--we are all God's children. And I know better than anyone, since six years ago I was one of those bigots. At that time...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uuabITeO4l8 This is a Shockingly Powerful & Biblical message preached to about 5,000 youth in a day when youth are appealed to through shallow and worldly means. At one point in this sermon the 5,000 Youth are clapping and yelling BUT THEN the preacher makes a comment that CHANGES THE WHOLE ATMOSPHERE TO WHERE YOU COULD HAVE HEARD A PIN DROP... As you can imagine, the preacher was never invited back. We believe the whole sermon will be a blessing to many souls. For more info about Paul Washer go to www.heartcrymissionary.com

It's amazing how much has always been at stake in the interpretation of these 10 terse phrases.A pair of Supreme Court rulings dealing with the display of the Ten Commandments on public property are only the most recent illustration of the power of the Decalogue (from the Greek, meaning “ten words”) to illuminate philosophical, religious, and cultural fault lines. For two thousand years, it has served as a potent symbol of the clash between moral cultures. The identity of the cultures has changed, but this most familiar of all biblical law codes has remained the ultimate token of victory: He...

Friday, August 20, 2004 Nihilism revisited Reader BH writes to say that the technical term for the repudiation of law referred to in World War 4 is not nihilism but antinomianism and quotes at length from Norman Podhoretz's 2002 book, The Prophets. "Yet even by itself the idea that the moral realm is governed by law becomes something more than an empty abstraction when placed against the background of a culture that has for all practical purposes denied or repudiated that idea. The technical term for the denial or repudiation of law is 'antinomianism,' and it is antinomianism by which,...