Down with Church 501(c)(3)'s

A friend e-mailed me a great OneNewsNow.com article about the dangers of congregations being uder the authority of the government via 501(c)(3)'s. Here are some of my favorite clips, but I encourage you to read the whole thing.

"We haven't gotten political as Evangelicals," he asserts. "What has taken place is, the government knows [that] if it makes something political that the church will step out -- and that is exactly what has taken place. They are hijacking our moral issues and then telling us to be quiet about it ... and that isn't going to work."

The Seattle-area pastor believes the best thing that could happen to churches would be to lose the 501(c)3 tax-exempt status that liberal activists currently use to threaten pastors who might speak out on moral issues in the political realm. Then, perhaps, churches would "find [their] backbone again," Hutcherson says.

"The government did not give us our 501(c)3 because they like us," he shares. "The government gave us our 501(c)3 so they could control us."

This is one of the reasons I support the Fair Tax; it would do away with 501(c)(3)'s.

Gov. Perry Did Something Right

I got this article today from LifeNews.com. It looks as though Texas is nearing the one year anniversary of Gov. Perry signing a law allowing freedom of religious expression in the Texas public schools. Here is a clip from the article.

In response to attacks on religious speech in public schools, Texas became the first state to pass a law devoted exclusively to protecting students' freedom of religious expression.

Last June, Governor Rick Perry signed the Religious Viewpoint Anti-Discrimination Act (RVADA), also Schoolchildren's Religious Liberties Act, to protect voluntary expression of religious viewpoints of the state's 4.5 million public schools students.

The RVADA outlines students' rights to express their religious viewpoints in homework, art, school speeches. The act also protects students' right to organize religious extra-curricular activities with the same access to school facilities as non-religious activities are afforded.

"Schools are not faith-free zones, and teachers shouldn't be asked to be prayer police. Rather, schools are required to ensure a level playing field in treating student's voluntary religious expression the same as all other expression. This bill settles the issue once and for all," stated religious liberties advocate attorney Kelly Coghlan.

Each episode of the "Speechless…Silencing the Christians" series can be accessed for free on the SilencingChristians.com after its initial Saturday airing.

View "Lone Star Justice" and learn more about the series:http://www.silencingchristians.com

Learn about protecting religious expression in your state:http://capwiz.com/afanet/issues/alert/?alertid=11352286

Josh Harris- Unity of the Gospel

Josh Harris (author of I Kissed Dating Goodbye) has this video posted on his blog. I think he has an excellent point about Christians staying unified regardless of whether they homeschool, send their kids to Christian school, or send them to government school. (One that I need reminding of.) I would just want to add that I think it is important to clarify that none of these options is sinful if the parent is doing it because they believe that it will lead their children closer to the Lord. Along these lines here is a clip from a more recent post on the same site. The green is Josh's dad. The brown is Josh.

The only moral issue at stake is whether we are willing to walk in the obedience of our faith in God and His will as we understand it from the Scriptures. Though wisdom and foolishness are called into play, there is no moral superiority to be found in any one educational option. Though dilligence is required of all three options, only our labor in Christ will not be in vain. Then, as the relative fruit of each option is put on display in time, may we all be humble enough to change our ways as needed in order to bear even better fruit for God.

Not all options seem to be equally fruitful thus far. But as a long-time home-schooling father and Christian home-schooling advocate I can honestly say that every option, including home schooling has its problems (as you well know). So, pick your problems, and by the grace of God deal with those problems as they arise. Our family has chosen the problems that come with home schooling. But, as you have said, we pray for all of our fellow parents and their children that God will mercifully bless their efforts to be faithful. We are all one in the body of Christ and that should allow us to support one another wholeheartedly in spite of our differing convictions on how to educate our children. - Dad

Thanks for sharing this. I think your insight about "picking your problems" is key. We need to understand both the pros and cons of every option and go into them with our eyes open, depending on God.

Vaginal Birth Twins

On the day after Mother's Day, it seemed appropriate to attempt to dispel some of the myths surrounding childbirth. One of those myths is that all multiple births need to be via c-section. Here is a great video (no actual births, just pictures of moms and babies) that proves this is not true.

Happy Mother's Day

Happy Mother's Day, everyone! I a proud of my mom for many reasons, but thought that I would post about this one. Every year she gives up her summer vacation (she's a teacher) to go to Zambia, Africa. While there, she wears many hats: dental assistant on a medical mission, prison minister, ladies' Bible class teacher,etc. She is coming to Fort Worth today to stay with us for a day before flying out of DFW for Africa. It will be nice to see her before she is gone for almost 3 months.