In keeping with the journalistic tradition of looking back at the recent past, we present the top 50 stories of the year that were read on The Aquila Report site based on the number of hits. We will present the 50 stories in groups of 10 to run on five lists on consecutive days. Here are numbers 31-40.
In 2018 The Aquila Report (TAR) posted over 3,000 stories. At the end of each year we feature the top 50 stories that were read. The top story this year had over 11,600 hits.
TAR posts about 8 new stories each day, on a variety of subjects – all of which we trust are of interest to our readers. As a web magazine TAR is an aggregator of news and information that we believe will provide articles that will inform the church of current trends and movements within the church and culture.
In keeping with the journalistic tradition of looking back at the recent past, we present the top 50 stories of the year that were read on The Aquila Report site based on the number of hits. We will present the 50 stories in groups of 10 to run on five lists on consecutive days. Here are numbers 31-40.
Christ died to remove through his broken body and shed blood the power of sin and the power of death from his people, forever. Why would any Christian wish to name him or herself according to a pattern of sinful desire or behavior, such as “gay”? As our friend Rosaria Butterfield asks, why would any Christian want to limit the identity of “Christian” by modifying it with an adjective like “gay”?
The religious confusion naturally plays out in sexuality. Confusion seems to be the prerequisite for acceptance and success in today’s world. In pagan spirituality, as well as in pagan sexuality, God the Creator, distinct from creation, has been eliminated from consideration in most of our educational institutions. If we construct our own gods, we will also construct our own sexual identities.
On the one hand, the world will never be satisfied–until Christians completely renounce their faith. More importantly, the Lord will never bless such unfaithfulness to Him and His Word. We see from the sad example of what’s happened to the ELCA–the biggest split in American church history–that whatever churches and other organizations such as the Boy Scouts imagine they will gain by giving in to the world is dwarfed by what they will surely lose.
The GA approved the amendment and sent it to the Presbyteries; the BCO requires that amendments be approved by two-thirds of its Presbytery. It is now clear from an unofficial tabulation of the Presbyteries that have voted, that 30 Presbyteries have voted against approving the amendment, which means that the two-thirds requirement cannot be met.
Thus, the result of two-kingdom theology is that Religion (Christianity) is personal, restricted to the heart, and the rules for the body politic must not be determined by the Bible. In America all religions are equal, and therefore all religions are equally irrelevant in the public square. Religion is only useful in so far as it makes people good citizens who are obedient to the law of the land.
While they say they’re committed to not having gay sex, some Revoice leaders argue there are good things about homosexual desire itself, such as bestowing a greater capacity for friendship and for appreciating beauty. That belief has raised alarms that Revoice proponents with same-sex attraction see themselves as part of the larger gay community to a degree that throws whole-hearted commitment to Christian orthodoxy on sex and marriage into question.
Psalm 22:1 is a key verse for the rejection theory. ‘My God, my God, why have you forsaken Me?’ (Ps 22:1). What does it mean? Two things. First, context is clear. Look at the parallel verse: ‘why are you so far from helping me?’ This is the issue: ‘no help’. The sufferer is asking why God doesn’t save him from his oppressors. I.e. ‘Why do you let my oppressors torment me?’ The Father gives the Son over to suffering. Psalm 22:1 is the equivalent of Isaiah’s statement, ‘It pleased the Lord to bruise Him’. In fact, the Psalm later says it: ‘You have brought me to the dust of death’ (v. 15).
When Christ prayed that his church would achieve “unity” (John 17:23) I do not believe he necessarily meant institutional unity. True unity between churches such as the CRC and RCA will be accomplished by cooperation and collaboration on the local level among individual congregations.
32 Nate Collins’ Stunning Sermon at Revoice
Nate Collins considers himself, and other “Gay Christians,” to be modern day prophets to the church to call us to repentance for our idolatry of the “nuclear family?” It’s somehow “idolatrous” for the church to embrace and uplift God’s created design of the nuclear family? Finally, we are to believe that the ones God has sent to save the church from His created order in Genesis are those who are disordered in their attractions as described in Romans 1?
When the PCA began, North American society was in flux on the issue of women’s roles. Today, the society is settled on the full inclusion of women in every sphere. This presents us with a challenge and opportunity. In this moment, we need positively and persuasively to make the case for biblical complementarity in the home and church, showing that it is true, good, and beautiful. At the same time, we want actively and unhesitatingly to pursue and equip the women of the church for every biblical role of service open to them.
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