5 Ways to Know You Are Judging Rightly

Amy Davison, Apologetics, Christianity, cultural apologetics, Discernment, Gospel, Legislating Morality, Culture & Politics, logic, MamaBearApologetics.com, Parenting, reason
It was the only way I knew how to explain my love of Fixer Upper to my bewildered husband. Since the show aired, I would plunk myself down, yell in frustration (who picks a midcentury modern over a classic Victorian, I mean, come on!?), and bask in the beauty of the big reveal. Yes, I loved the shiplap, but like other Christian fans, what I enjoyed most was having a show featuring a Christian couple who truly loved each other. What Christian fans weren’t expecting was to watch the designing duo green-light the normalization of homosexuality when they partnered with HBO for the newest reality, Back to the Frontier. The fallout gave fans everywhere a front row seat to a Christian accountability meeting, and they had a lot to say. “Christians shouldn’t judge (Matthew 7:1)!” “…All…
Read More

What Does the Bible Say About Illegal Immigration? My Friendly Response to a Well-known Pentecostal Pastor

Apologetics, Border Patrol, Christianity, cultural apologetics, Gospel, government, ICE, illegal immigration, Immigrant, Legislating Morality, Culture & Politics, open borders, Politics, Race, Racism, Undocumented
The topic of immigration is boiling over these days. It’s complex and emotional, especially when it affects our communities and families. Recently, a well-known Puerto Rican Pentecostal pastor named Omar Lugo  presented a Facebook video and a written post on this issue, citing various Bible verses that discuss how we should treat foreigners. His approach seemed to suggest that human laws regarding immigration shouldn’t matter because divine laws are above them (without explaining how they directly contradict God’s law). While I share his concern for showing compassion, I believe his argument stems from biblical silence and fails to demonstrate that current immigration laws violate God’s law. The Argument from Silence in Biblical Interpretation Pastor Omar used passages like Leviticus 19:33-34, Exodus 22:21, Deuteronomy 10:18-19, Zechariah 7:10, Matthew 25:35, Hebrews 13:2,…
Read More

Stranger Things: Was Vecna a Victim?

Apologetics, Christianity, cultural apologetics, FreeThinkingMinistries.com, Gospel, Henry Creel, Legislating Morality, Culture & Politics, Netflix, Richard Eng, Stranger Things, Vecna
***This review of Stranger Things Season 5 contains major spoilers. Consider yourself warned. It’s a new year, and the end of an era. Stranger Things, the wildly successful Netflix show, has officially concluded. I watched the show as a fan but also as one who is interested in the underlying worldview. No piece of media is completely neutral. In fact, the arts are meant to be an imaginative exploration of ideas. In story, you don’t just observe beliefs, you inhabit them as an “insider.” If you are not familiar with the show, I would warn that it contains language, violence, and at times depictions of what I determine to be demonic. Season 4 was particularly demonic, and I almost stopped watching. But I was a youth pastor at the time,…
Read More

The Status of Women According to Islam

Apologetics, Christianity, cultural apologetics, Feminism, Gospel, Hadiths, Islam, Islamic Theology, JonathanMclatchie.com, Legislating Morality, Culture & Politics, Muslims, women
The status of women in Islam is a subject enshrouded in controversy. According to many Muslims, Muhammad was a champion of women’s rights, bestowing upon the women in his community privileges and rights that they did not have previously. The notion that women in pre-Islamic Arabia had no rights, however, is demonstrably untrue. Former Muslim Nabeel Qureshi lists some of the rights that women had in pre-Islamic Arabia, which included ease of divorce, the ability to marry multiple men, and become overlords. Women were even able to propose for marriage, as in fact was the case with respect to Khadija’s marriage to Muhammad. To outsiders, the hijab is often viewed as a symbol of oppression. Since April 2011, wearing of head coverings (including hijabs) in public places has even been…
Read More

Inside the Antifa Mind, Part 1: The Myth of Oppression

Antifa, Apologetics, Christianity, college, cultural apologetics, DrOwenAnderson.substack.com, Gospel, Leftism, Legislating Morality, Culture & Politics, Marxism, Owen Anderson, political theory, radicalism, rules for radicals, saul alinski, terrorism
​​Welcome to my new series on the belief system known as Antifa. If you’re a parent or student, you might be wondering: What do the Antifa professors on my campus actually believe? Why are they pushing communism? My goal in this first installment is to explain their ideological foundation—how they think the world works—so that you can recognize their framework, understand their appeal, and ultimately see why it collapses under its own weight. This helps you see that such professors, for all of their study, have failed to become wise and cannot explain the basics of reality. In the next part, we’ll expose the rational incoherence of that foundation. The public refutation of any movement takes away its influence over the minds of its adherents and potential converts once it…
Read More

How To Prepare Your Kids Faith Before They Leave For College, Part 2: Faith-Based Preparation

Apologetics, Christianity, College-Prep, cultural apologetics, discipleship, Gospel, Julie Loos, MamaBearApologetics.com, Prayer, Theology and Christian Apologetics
It’s doubtful parents would send their kids to college without some sort of meal plan, but are parents as diligent in helping set up a spiritual meal plan for their children? Once that dorm key is issued, there will be no more spoon-fed lessons by the youth group. When our kids head to college, it’s time for them to feed themselves, or they could spiritually starve to death. In our previous blog, we addressed the top four preparations to keep your kids on FIRE for God: faith-based, intellectual, relational, and environmental. In this blog, we’ll discuss how to prepare your kids spiritually for college, specifically through spiritual disciplines. Developing Good Faith Habits   Helping your child establish the habits of personal Bible study and prayer while they are still living in your home is…
Read More

Sending Your Kids to College on F.I.R.E. for Their Faith!

Apologetics, Back to School, Christianity, College-Prep, cultural apologetics, discipleship, family, Gospel, Julie Loos, Legislating Morality, Culture & Politics, MamaBearApologetics.com, Parenting
If you are the mom of a soon-to-be-college freshman, hang on. You will survive! But the more important question might be: Will your child survive college. . . spiritually? Even if he or she has checked all the boxes associated with growing up in the church, there’s always the possibility that their faith will end up no more intact than the couch at the frat house. But rest assured, I have walked in your shoes. Twice. And I can happily say that my young men thrived in college and graduated, still walking with Christ. (Thank you, Jesus!) We know this isn’t true of all of our kids, though, and we’re not trying to make anyone feel bad; rather, we hope that these blogs will help prepare you for what’s to come…
Read More

Does Jesus Ever Talk About Homosexuality?

4. Is the NT True?, Apologetics, Bible, Christianity, cultural apologetics, gender and sexuality, Gospel, Hillary Ferrer, Homosexuality, MamaBearApologetics.com, New Testament, Theology and Christian Apologetics
I was in my mid-20s living in San Diego. I joined some people from a nearby church and went to a Pride parade to pass out water, give hugs, and hold signs saying “We are sorry the church hasn’t loved you the way Jesus would” (or something along those lines). All of a sudden, I was descended upon by a film crew with a microphone asking me what Jesus had to say about homosexuality. I was not expecting this, but I was giddy to share the love of Christ and talk about how we are all sinners saved by grace and how Jesus never singled out homosexuality as worse than any other type of sexual immorality. In the middle of my sentence (which I had been certain would be received with amazement,…
Read More

Countercultural Warriors…

Apologeticxs, bellatorchristi.com, Christianity, cultural apologetics, Gospel, Practical Apologetics, Spiritual Warfare, Theology and Christian Apologetics, Thomas Gentry, TJ Gentry, Worldview
An Age of Mirrors Ours is an age of mirrors. Addicted to the thought of self, individuals of profound dignity and worth huddle together en masse as they shuffle along the broad road that leads them anywhere but towards life. The sides of the road are lined with mirrors, reflections of this act or that moment or those days. Deceptively effective, the mirrors keep the eyes of the people on themselves as they desperately seek to find deeper meaning in rituals and events made shallow by selfishness. The mirrors control the persons, reducing them to spectators of their own existence. Always primping, endlessly posturing, carefully portraying what they believe is the best face for others to see, the faces in the mirrors present a staged collage of a life that…
Read More

A Wolf in Women’s Clothing: The One Question Trans-Activists Can’t Answer

Apologetics, bathrooms, Christianity, cross-dressing, cultural apologetics, Gospel, Legislating Morality, Culture & Politics, LGBTQ, Transgender, Wolf in sheep's clothing
“Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves.” Matthew 7:15 (ESV) The bathroom debate has resurrected some very old questions about women’s rights.[1] Once upon a time, women fought for separate bathrooms from men. The reasons were obvious. Privacy, modesty, prudence, and the unfortunate fact that men have a worse record for physical and sexual violence. It’s not in women’s best interests to get stuck in a bathroom with a strange man, if she can help it. But in recent years, the common-sense solution of “separate bathrooms” has come under fire. The Trump administration has introduced a new level of pushback, but the bathroom debate is still far from settled. I have to wonder, however, if we could let the air out…
Read More