Earlier this month, a statement titled “The Statement on Social Justice and the Gospel” was released to the public. The heart of this statement can be identified by these words from the introduction to the statement itself: “Specifically, we are deeply concerned that values borrowed from secular culture are currently undermining Scripture in the areas […]
A Vibrant Faith for the 21st Century: God and natural disasters
“I form the light and create darkness, I bring prosperity and create disaster; I, the Lord, do all these things” (Isaiah 45:7, NIV). “For this is what the Sovereign Lord says: How much worse will it be when I send against Jerusalem my four dreadful judgments—sword and famine and wild beasts and plague—to kill its […]
A Vibrant Faith for the 21st Century: Troubling Old Testament texts
“Then David said to Nathan, ‘I have sinned against the Lord.’ Nathan replied, “The Lord has taken away your sin. You are not going to die. But because by doing this you have shown utter contempt for the Lord, the son born to you will die’” (2 Samuel 12:13-14 [New International Version]). “Parents are not […]
A Vibrant Faith for the 21st Century; Where Fools Rush In: An interpretation of Numbers 5
I came of age, as an evangelical Christian, in the period 1977 to 1983, during which time I attended Wheaton College. That form of evangelical Christianity was very, very different than the form it took following the rise of the religious right in the middle and late 1980s. In particular, abortion was not nearly the […]
A Vibrant Faith for the 21st Century: The case against– and for– judging
“Do not judge, or you too will be judged. For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you” (Matthew 7:1-2 [New International Version]). “It is actually reported that there is sexual immorality among you, and of a kind that even […]
A Vibrant Faith for the 21st Century: The treatment of immigrants in the Bible
I have to preface this column with two confessions. First, my heart aches that I even have to discuss, as calmly and theologically as I can, the immorality of separating immigrant children from their families at the border. Second, due to the circumstances of this column, and in particular how quickly this abominable situation developed, […]
A Vibrant Faith for the 21st Century: Obeying Scripture when Scripture is silent
Earlier this month, audio of controversial comments made in 2000 by Paige Patterson, at the time the President of the Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary and past President of the Southern Baptist Convention, made its way to national consciousness. I first learned of it in articles in the Washington Post, but it has since garnered widespread […]
A Vibrant Faith for the 21st Century: “Reclaiming Jesus: Echoes of 1934”
By Rev. Henry Sun Special to the Herald During the season of Lent, a cohort of Wesleyan pastors and theologians published a confession of faith entitled Reclaiming Jesus: A Confession of Faith in a Time of Crisis (http://www.reclaimingjesus.org/). This particular confession is structured with six specific theological affirmations, each of which is followed by a […]
A Vibrant Faith for the 21st Century: Easter Saturday
By Rev. Henry Sun Special to the Herald On Sunday, Christians completed their annual celebration of Holy Week, the most important week in the Christian calendar. This celebration started with Palm Sunday, reached its nadir on Good Friday, and culminated with the celebration of the Risen Lord on Easter Sunday which, in Western traditions, fell […]
A Vibrant Faith for the 21st Century: Descriptive truth and prescriptive truth
By Rev. Henry Sun Special to the Herald Early on in my study of ethics, I was introduced to the leap of faith that is required by any moral decision. For example, one can claim that murder is wrong. (For the record, I agree.) Nonetheless, the claim that any specific murder is wrong is an […]