Significant Christian push-back was unleashed in recent months by Kathryn Joyce’s criticism of the abuses in evangelical adoption efforts: The Child Catchers: Rescue, Trafficking, and the New Gospel of Adoption.

Melanie Springer Mock documented some of that push-back and gave her appreciative take on Joyce’s book. I have been surprised at some undiscriminating criticism of evangelical adoption.

As I pondered how to respond to the criticisms of adoption, it seemed best that I try to formulate constructive commitments rather than reactive complaints. I’m not in a position to know the extent of the abuses. I’m not claiming they don’t exist. But I do know some of the key voices in the evangeli…

Continue Reading →

“What does a tractor manufacturer know about sports cars?” said Enzo Ferrari to an Italian mechanic from humble roots.¹

This mechanic, Ferruccio Lamborghini, did manufacture tractors, and he did well. But he also liked fast automobiles and building things, and in the decade following World War II he decided to try his hand at supercars. Frustrated with the Ferrari’s handling on the road, and Ferrari’s dismissal at some suggested improvements, Ferruccio blazed his own trail by creating Automobili Lamborghini. By the fall of 1963, at the Turin Motor Show, he released the Lamborghini 350 GTV and launched the beginning of an iconic supercar brand — a brand at which most men have only marveled f…

Continue Reading →

ESPN analyst Chris Broussard on homosexuality. C.S. Lewis on joy. Choosing a seminary. Processing a tragedy. And how far is too far in dating. It’s all in a fortnight of Ask Pastor John episodes.

What follows are excerpts from each episode (click on hyperlinked titles to listen).

How Far Is Too Far Before Marriage, Spiritually and Emotionally? (Episode 84):

A man especially needs to stay awake to what is happening emotionally and spiritually and personally in the relationship. Don’t take yourself into a depth of spiritual and emotional bonding that will not consummate in marriage and sexual union. Be alert that every step deeper into emotional and spiritual union with a woman’s so…

Continue Reading →

If it weren’t for Pentecost, we wouldn’t know about Easter.

For most of us, tomorrow isn’t flagged on our calendars as Pentecost Sunday. But it is a big deal for Christians, and there are at least three reasons why it’s a day worth celebrating.

Catching Up on the Context

First, the back-story. Recall that Jesus spent forty days after his resurrection with his disciples (Acts 1:3). Imagine those moments — the risen Savior in a glorified body talking and praying with his close friends (Luke 24:39–43). But it cannot last. Jesus must ascend to the Father and establish his everlasting reign by receiving, as the God-man, all dominion, power, and authority (Luke 24:44–51; cf. Daniel 7:13–14).

W…

Continue Reading →

God is not content for us just to understand the idea that nothing is too hard for the Lᴏʀᴅ (Jeremiah 32:17). He wants us to have the overwhelming joy of experiencing it. But the sometimes agonizing period between his promise and his provision can push us to the brink of what we think we can believe, as it did for Abraham and Sarah.

[This imaginative conversation takes place shortly after Genesis 17:22.]

Abram entered the tent, his eyes on the ground, his mind a world away. He was breathing hard. Sarai was repairing a cloak. She watched him as he walked to the back corner and collapsed on the cushions with a sigh. She recognized the bodily weariness of a divine encounter.

“The Lᴏʀᴅ has sp…

Continue Reading →

Dear ______,

I just want you to know that I understand.

I understand how it feels to be in love with a woman. To want nothing more than to be with her forever. Feeling as if the universe has played a cruel joke on your heart by allowing it to fall into the hands of a creature that looks just like you.

I too was a lesbian. I had same-sex attractions as early as five-years old. As I grew up, those feelings never subsided. They only grew. I would find myself having crushes on my female best friends, but I was far too ashamed to admit it to them — let alone to myself.

At the age of 17, I finally made the decision to pursue these desires. I entered into a relationship with a young lady who be…

Continue Reading →

“It is a highly needed and valuable procedure.”

That statement above is referring to late-term abortion. In other words, says LateTermAbortion.net, it is highly needed and valuable that deadly poison be injected into the heart of an unborn child if the mother so chooses.

This reveals a cruel irony of late term abortionist Kermit Gosnell, the man convicted of murdering viable children after they were born alive during his abortion procedures. He claimed the babies were dead before leaving their mother’s wombs because his intra-cardiac injection had stopped their hearts, and therefore, he wasn’t guilty of murder. A matter of inches in one direction makes it “a guiltless procedure,” but in th…

Continue Reading →

At Desiring God, we are happy and unapologetic advocates of the sanctity of human life, beginning at conception. We love waving the banner for life, not just around the Roe anniversary in January, but throughout the year. Earlier this year, John Piper answered questions for a student in Asia related to abortion and the cause of life during his 33-year pastorate at Bethlehem Baptist. In an effort to keep the sanctity of human life regularly before our readers, here are the questions and John’s answers. –Editor

1. How does Bethlehem Baptist Church offer a solution to help prevent abortions or deal with women who have had abortions?

• We preach at least once a year on the nature and evil of abo…

Continue Reading →

“Mommy, what’s the matter?”

My son can sense it. The tension and worry that saturates my heart oozes from my presence. “I just have so much on my mind. I forgot to do something, that’s all,” I replied.

But that’s not all. I say it like it’s not a big deal. But from the mouth of a child, his question reminds me that I shouldn’t feel this way. This burden I’m carrying on my shoulders seems to get heavier with each new day. Lately, my to-do lists have to-do lists.

With a hectic, busy life, full of responsibilities, I’m afraid I’ll forget something crucial and important. I worry that if I don’t do it (and there’s always an it), then no one else will. So I try to keep everything under my contr…

Continue Reading →

The regular use of our minds — thinking, reading, studying, analyzing — is a necessary means to loving God in this world. God gave us a Book, and he ordained that insight into its message be given by means of focused mental effort (2 Timothy 2:7; Ephesians 3:4; Acts 17:11–12) combined with supernatural illumination (2 Corinthians 4:4–6; 1 Peter 1:23). We should become attentive readers even if only to see the glory of God in the pages of Scripture and to be equipped for every good work (2 Timothy 3:16–17).

But the use of our minds is a critical means to loving God in a wide variety of secular occupations, too. Intellectual effort can take many forms. Some read books, others “read” equations…

Continue Reading →