Moral Superiority?

Found this today from Preaching Today and found it interesting enough to share:

"It ought to be possible to live a Christian life without being a Christian," laments Roy Hattersley, a columnist for the U.K. Guardian. An outspoken atheist, Hattersley came to this conclusion after watching the Salvation Army lead several other faith-based organizations in the relief effort after Hurricane Katrina.

"Notable by their absence," he says, were "teams from rationalist societies, free thinkers' clubs, and atheists' associations—the sort of people who scoff at religion's intellectual absurdity." According to Hattersley, it is an unavoidable conclusion that Christians "are the people most likely to take the risks and make the sacrifices involved in helping others."

Hattersley also notes that this pattern of behavior goes beyond disaster relief:

Civilized people do not believe that drug addiction and male prostitution offend against divine ordinance. But those who do are the men and women most willing to change the fetid bandages, replace the sodden sleeping bags, and—probably most difficult of all—argue, without a trace of impatience, that the time has come for some serious medical treatment.

"The only possible conclusion," says Hattersley, "is that faith comes with a packet of moral imperatives that, while they do not condition the attitude of all believers, influence enough of them to make [Christians] morally superior to atheists like me."

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What do you think?  Are Christians “morally superior” to atheists?  Is this even a helpful quote?  How would you use this in a sermon?

The Face of Moralism

What will it take for America to see and experience a revival?  Or any nation for that matter? 

How you answer that question determines whether or not you are a moralist or gospel-centered. 

Every day I get emails or read articles from well-meaning Christians that say we need to get God back in America.  Of course what they mean by that is that we need to get pray back in our schools.  Let’s not let those liberal rascals take God out of schools—besides that’s why schools are getting shot up.  The reason that our government is becoming increasingly corrupt is because the 10 Commandments are not on the front lawn.  We’ve taken God out of the courtroom.  We need to repent as a nation and get God back on our side.

Add to this the abominable sins of abortion, homosexuality, and pornography.  If we get rid of these atrocities then we will be in a position to receive revival.  If that is your vision of revival then you have missed the gospel. 

Did you realize that this statement, “You serpents, you brood of vipers, how are you to escape being sentenced to hell?”, was leveled against a people that did everything we just described?  The Pharisees held the 10 commandments in high regard, they taught prayer, they fought against abortion, homosexuality, and a ton of other vices such as pornography.  So, if that is your vision for taking back America for God then it’s a vision that God Himself considers an abomination. 

Please do not misunderstand me.  God is not pro-abortion, His view of human sexuality has not changed, He still hates pornography, He upholds the 10 Commandments, and loves to hear the prayer of His people.  That’s not the point. 

The point is that God is in the business of “ransoming people for Himself from every tribe and language and people and nation” through Jesus.  And as He ransoms people He (not we), “make them a kingdom and priests to our God, and they shall reign on the earth.”  He is not in the business of simply making us better people. 

So, I ask do you stake the hope for America on our moralism and response to the Law?  Or do you stake the hope for America on the gospel of Jesus Christ that rescues, redeems, and restores gays, lesbians, porn-addicts, mothers that have had abortions, unrighteous judges, corrupt politicians, and even moralists? 

When I talk about moralistic therapeutic deism in the coming days this is in part what I am talking about. 

Borrowed Light: Today in Blogworld 03/07-09

Brian Thornton has an intriguing quote. Who do you think said it?

This could be a watershed decision by an appeals court in California. The court has ruled that parents have no constitutional right to homeschool their children. I can not articulate a comment on this as effective as Dr. Mohler. I would simply say, "that is just dumb". Dr. Mohler is a little more articulate, read his take here.

Great story of witnessing and faithfulness to the gospel by Timmy Brister: The Cross Isn't Sexy.

Michael Spencer, the IMonk, has compiled a list of 10 Reasons He Doesn't Read Your Blog. It would very helpful to me if my readers would read this article, and e-mail me any suggestions in how I may improve this blog.

I failed to mention this last week. Abraham Piper has a new blog called 22 Words. It is very intriguing. And it takes about 15 seconds to read each post.

There is a very important discussion going on between Rick Love, John Piper, Justin Taylor and a few others. The eye of this hurricaine is found in Love's signing of A Common Word. He gives reasons why, Piper, Taylor, and others do not quite buy it. Here is Love's latest explanation. Here is Frank Turk's (of Team Pyro) response to Love.

Trevin Wax points us to a phenomenal Spurgeon quote admonishing pastors and people alike, to read.

This is a phenomenal post by Ray Ortlund. His central thesis is this: "In the heart of God, moral fervor is beautiful. In the heart of a sinner, moral fervor is complicated." He then offers a few diagnostics to monitor whether or not he is slipping into moral fervor. Wonderful post.

There is a Real Preachers of Genius video floating around. I thought this one was pretty funny (and sadly true) also: