World Views

A Bible Aimed At Millennials

I had to read this article twice just to make sure it was serious. A 20-year-old college student who had just become a Christian had decided to plunge into scripture, ok, so far, so good. Here's what made me cross my eyes and exclaim out loud, WHAAT? The following, is the student's description of what he saw when he opened his Bible and why he didn't want to read it. "The text was small and serious-looking, each line corralled inside a densely packed, numbered columns devoid of imagery- like citations at the end of a biology textbook. Inside, the pages were toilet paper thin. Outside, the cover was solid black and intimidating." I forgot to mention the college he was attending, none there than, The University of Southern California. I thought you had to be pretty smart to gain admission there. The rest of the article describes how he designed a Bible for millennials and has made a profitable business out of it. I wonder if he would be ok with THE LARGE PRINT BIBLE edition with lots of pictures in it and a cover in some pastel colors, maybe.

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African Methodists Save The Day For Traditional Marriage

The February Methodist general conference held in St. Louis met to vote on an agenda that included gay marriage and ordination of LGBTQ in the church. By a vote of 55% to 45% the measure was defeated. In addition a vote was taken to uphold the traditional teachings of the church which passed by 53% to 47%. This was to the chagrin of the majority of the U.S. bishops who supported the liberal agenda.

How did this happen? Forty-two percent of the delegates at the February general conference  come from abroad. (Africans being the majority) U.S. conservatives where able to defeat the liberal agenda combined with the African vote. Read the full article for some surprising facts about the African Methodist Church and Methodism in America.

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Thanks to Bill MeHaffey for the article.

The Church A Cage

"Is the Catholic Church a cage? The language of a recent New York Times article on the number of gay men in the Roman Catholic priesthood certainly implies that it is. The precise quotation comes from Father Bob Bussen, a priest in Utah: 'Life in the closet is worse than scapegoating,' he said. 'It is not a closet. It is a cage,' " Carl R. Trueman writes, in his response to The Times article. His opinion piece is not about bashing the Catholic Church's struggles with homosexuality, but a big picture of the church universal. He offers up an interesting criticism of today's church. "The Christian is truly free not because the church provides a safe space of personal affirmation, but because she offers a new life in Christ, expressed in her dogmas." To read more of this thought provoking article click on the link below.

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Carl R. Trueman is a professor in the Alva J. Calderwood School of Arts and Letters at Grove City College, Pennsylvania.