Category: Apologetics/Worldview

Resources for Christians Thinking through Social Justice Issues

/ Ronnie W Rogers

These articles, messages, and links are provided to help Christians remain faithful to the Scripture in our actions, heart, and speech at a time when many evangelical leaders are abandoning clear biblical teaching. Or they are unjustifiably mixing biblical teaching with cultural Marxism, social justice, critical race theory, intersectionality, and terminology from Black Lives Matters (BLM), all of which are inferior to the biblical message and tacitly minimize the ungodly beliefs of BLM. In either case, the biblical perspective and the gospel is corrupted.

In their allegiances, they undermine Scripture by confusing such things as social justice with biblical justice, critical race theory’s definition of race and racism with Scripture’s teaching on race and racism, social justice’s evil privilege with biblical blessings, cultural Marxism’s white supremacy and guilt based on skin color and its ineffective repentance with God’s standard, which is that any sinful racial supremacy flows from the heart, but it can be forgiven and all guilt removed by repentance and faith.

 Every attempt to speak about racism that does not pedestal “all are created in the image of God” (Gen 1:26–28) or adopts inferior cultural expressions undermines the clarity of the Christian message and the gospel. Continue reading →

I am Troubled About an ERLC Article on Abortion

/ Ronnie W Rogers

Phoebe Cates wrote an article that is posted on the ERLC website entitled, “Why our hearts matter when talking about Abortion.”

I agree with the title of the article. We should have a broken heart over the tragedy of every abortion and a tender heart toward every person who needs Christ. We should approach the woman who is contemplating abortion or has had one with love, truth, and gentleness (Eph 4:15; 1 Pet 3:15). I appreciate Phoebe reminding us of the importance of our heart when we engage women who struggle with or have had an abortion. Continue reading →

Understanding the Danger of Equating Social Justice with Biblical Justice

/ Ronnie W Rogers

The following resources provide an understanding of the social justice movement of our day, and why many Christian leaders reject it as culturally defined. These resources expose and explain the basis of social justice ideology and vocabulary. The social justice movement is not sanitized just because it is accepted by some Christian leaders and uses Scripture, nor should it be confused with Biblical justice. Continue reading →

Jehovah and Allah are Not the Same!

/ Ronnie W Rogers

Do Muslims and Christians worship the same God? Some say yes. I say no. Those who say they are the same do so based upon similarities between Allah and Jehovah. Those who hold the sameness position say Muslims worship the same God as Christians but do so with errors in their understanding of God. That is to say; they simply need some correction in their understanding of God because they already worship the right God. In support of the same God theory, they would point out that Christians and Muslims each believe their God possesses similar attributes, both are monotheistic, both accept the Old and New Testament scriptures, although Islam says there are errors, and both have similarities in their recounting of history. Continue reading →

Clearing Up Some Ethical Confusion

/ Ronnie W Rogers

Ethical decisions are a part of everyday life, and it is incumbent upon Christians to make moral and ethical decisions based upon the teaching of Scripture.  Some of these decisions seem very easy; for example, murder, lying, and stealing are wrong, and truth-telling, mercy, and sacrifice are good. As clear as those seem to be, real-life experiences, recorded in the Scripture or lived out today, can create some nuances that becloud the issue.

For example, confusion can arise when a certain act that is condemned in Scripture has features similar to other acts that are not condemned and because of the similar features between that which is condemned and that which is not, the two acts are unjustifiably equated as being the same.  An example of this would be the difference in being a martyr and committing suicide.

In The Round Table in Ethics, I have noticed a few things that tend to create confusion for Christians trying to understand and apply biblical ethics.  This primarily revolves around making similar acts identical or equating God’s commendation of some elements of an event with God’s implied approval of all the elements of the event even when those elements are without exception said to be sin everywhere they are explicitly mentioned in Scripture.  An example of this would be lying.

Consequently, in the second week of my Round Table in Ethics, I present something I call “Ethical Considerations and Clarifications”.  In this presentation, I seek to address some distinctions that can be helpful in avoiding ethical dilemmas.  The issues addressed in this paper do not address every relevant issue, but only those that seem to present problems when considering various ethical issues in The Round Table. I address the relationship of similarities and dissimilarities, the difference between intrinsically good or evil acts and extrinsically good or evil acts, the Is-Ought fallacy, the Sin of Omission, arguments from silence, and then I explain what a lie is. Continue reading →

The Dynamic Gospel Encounter: John 12:35–36

/ Ronnie W Rogers

This passage gives insight into the very nature of the gospel encounter. We see the genuine offer of the gospel, and the need and urgency to accept it, which the listeners can do; or they can reject it with full knowledge and remain in their sin.

“So Jesus said to them, ‘For a little while longer the Light is among you. Walk while you have the Light, so that darkness will not overtake you; he who walks in the darkness does not know where he goes. While you have the Light, believe in the Light, so that you may become sons of Light.’ These things Jesus spoke, and He went away and hid Himself from them” (John 12:35–36). Continue reading →

Upon Whom Shall We Exercise Church Discipline?

/ Ronnie W Rogers

I remember the first time we implemented church discipline in my former church. It was the greatest spiritual challenge the church had faced. The process took over a year, and it ended with a young lady having to be removed and others leaving because of her removal.

But that was not to be the end of the story. Sometime later, I received a call from the young lady. She said she needed to come and repent before the church. She came and shared her story. She told how she had been saved subsequent to being disciplined by our church, and that it was the discipline of the church that God used to bring her to that salvation. She said she had always gotten away with everything she wanted—a pattern developed because of a lack of parental and self-discipline. The church had made her really examine her life and through that, she came to realize that she was not a true Christian. Correspondingly, she bowed her heart before our wonderful Lord, and He gloriously saved her. We welcomed her back to the Lord’s Table and the fellowship of the body. Continue reading →

The Practical Reasons for the Banishment of Church Discipline Answered

/ Ronnie W Rogers

I have practiced church discipline for over thirty years, and here are some of the practical reasons often posed to me against the practice of church discipline.

It was abused in the past

When the subject of church discipline surfaces, someone will inevitably point to the abuses of the past as reason enough to squelch the whole conversation and move on to something more palatable. It is an undeniable fact that there have been abuses in the past. George Davis writes, “A perusal of old church minutes would tend to justify the claim that in the past church discipline was often wrongly motivated and sometimes concerned with petty matters.”[1] A classic example of abuse is when Pope Gregory VII (1073–1085) forced Henry IV to stand as a penitent in the snow outside the castle at Canossa begging the Pope to cancel his excommunication.[2] Continue reading →