Whew! American politics is getting really emotional! Look at Wisconsin, Indiana, and Ohio. Listen to the rhetoric coming out of Washington over the budget crisis and whether or not the government will shut down. People are angry, passionate, and eager to be heard – even, as it turns out, if they don’t have anything to say.

Like the man shouting outside Fox News’ New York bureau, “Fox Lies! Fox Lies!”, who, when challenged by a reporter to cite one instance of a lie, could not come up with one, but kept getting louder and more agitated as he repeated, “All the time!” over and over. Is this any way to make public policy? But we can’t simply shrug off our emotions, can we? Especially not when it comes to teaching our young how to think about things like life and truth and morality. So what do we do? 

Resources for this topic

“What Role for Feelings?” by T. M. Moore

“Emotional Responses,” by Charles Colson

“Love is Worth It,” by Jennifer Roback Morse

“Salad-Bar Christianity,” by Charles Colson

“Testing ‘New’ Revelation,” by Greg Koukl

“Whatever Happened to Rational Patriotism?” by Dinesh D’Souza

“The Searing of Conscience,” by Charles Colson

“Credulous Christians: Nothing More than Feelings,” by Charles Colson

“Think Again,” by James Tonkowich 

For more insight to this topic, get the book, Faith Beyond Feelings: Discerning the Heart of True Spirituality, by Jonathan Edwards, from our online store.

Activities

1. Choose one of the hot political, social, or moral issues of the day. Ask some of your friends two questions, and have them write down their answers: (1) Where do you stand on this? (2) Why? Study their answers. Do they seem to be responding by faith and careful thought, or by mere feelings. Talk with them about your observations.
2. Ask some of the young people in your church to distinguish between feelings, facts, and faith. How are they related? Which matters most? Next? Last? How should each of these factor into the major life decisions we need to make? Share the results of your interviews with the youth pastor. How does he or she respond?
3. Email today’s Talking Points column to several Christian friends. Challenge them to read some of the resources, watch the Two-Minute Warning, and take on one of the activities.

A conversation starter

Here’s a conversation starter that you can use to engage someone in this topic, and hopefully bend the conversation toward spiritual things: “Man! Every public issue today seems so emotionally charged! Do you think we’ll ever be able to get down to the truth in any of these matters?”

Americans – perhaps even Congress! – may be waking up to the fact that there are limits to what politics and government can do to ensure a good life for the citizens of the nation. But if government can’t continue to grow and provide, where shall people look to have their needs met and to realize the good life they long to know? The current “reality check” our government is undergoing creates an excellent opportunity for Christians and their churches to stand in the gap and show the love of Jesus in new and creative ways. But will we do it? Only if some of us take the lead. So here are some resources and activities to help you get going!

Resources for this topic

“I was thirsty…” by Robert Wuthnow

“Christian Obligations: ‘The Poor You Will Always Have With You,’” by John Bolt

“The Hopeful Task of Congregations: Caring for the Lonely Children of Divorce,” by Elizabeth Marquardt

“Where Went the Neighborhood?” by Anthony Esolen

“Balancing Act: Caring for Creation,” by Charles Colson

“Finding the Forgotten,” the editors of Christian History

“Think Locally, Act Locally,” by Gerald Zandstra

“Learning Charity from an Exemplar,” by Amy L. Sherman

“Local Communities Are Charity’s Resource of First Resort,” by Rick Santorum

For more insight to this topic, get the book, Ministries of Mercy, by Timothy Keller, from our online store.

Activities

1. See what you can find out about pressing needs in your community. Read local papers. Call a few radio stations. Check with your city council. Then make a list of two or three issues that you think Christians might be able to address. Invite some friends over for coffee, share your concern and list, and lead them in a discussion of possibilities.
2. Is your church thinking about how it might better prepare to serve the physical needs of its members and the larger community? Is it possible your church and other churches might band together for a more effective outreach to the needy? Talk with some of your church’s leader. Ask them these questions and see what they say. Look for an opportunity to volunteer your help, if need be.
3. Email today’s Talking Points column to several Christian friends. Challenge them to read some of the resources, watch the Two-Minute Warning, and take on one of the activities.

A conversation starter

Try this with some of your Christian friends: “You know, if the government is really reaching the limits of what it can provide, then who’s going to meet the needs of people who can’t help themselves? Should our churches be getting involved in this conversation?”

Black History Month provides believers an opportunity to learn a bit about our history. The pages of Church history glisten with wonderful stories of courageous and beautiful men and women whose example can encourage and inspire us in our own walk with the Lord.

This month we challenge you to become familiar with some of the great Black Christians who have contributed to the Christian heritage and the betterment of humankind through their efforts. Check out the resources and items for action, and enjoy learning about the greatness of God through the lives of some of our Christian forebears.

Resources for this topic

“What Black Church? What Black Politics? By Curtis J. Evans

“The First Black Congressman: Another Angle on Reconstruction,” by Amos N. Jones

“Black and Beautiful: Renewing Churches and Neighborhoods,” by Charles Colson

“Christianity and Slavery: Celebrating Black History Month and the Worldview that Freed the Slaves,” by Chuck Edwards

“Black and White and One in Christ,” by Diane Singer

“A Preaching Woman,” by Jonathon Kahn

“The Real Sojourner: A Woman of God,” by Charles Colson

“Baseball’s ‘Great Experiment’: The Jackie Robinson Story,” by Charles Colson

Activities

1. Talk with your pastor and a few church leaders about what your church is doing to honor Black History Month. Share some of the stories of great Black Christians, and encourage your pastor to make a point of holding their example out to the congregation, not just this month, but often.
2. Select one of the articles in the resource list above. Give it to several friends and ask them to read it. Then get together to discuss ways you might encourage greater unity among the Christians – of all backgrounds and ethnic heritages – in your community. Pray for greater unity in the Body of Christ locally.
3. Email today’s Talking Points column to several Christian friends. Challenge them to read some of the resources, watch the Two-Minute Warning, and take on one of the activities.

A conversation starter

Try this with a friend at work: “You know, I’m grateful for Black History Month, because it helps me, as a Christian, to realize how much our Black Christian forebears can contribute to our own faith today. What do you think?”

For more insight to this topic, get a copy of Why We Can't Wait, by Dr. King, from our online store.

The situation in Egypt should serve to remind us that there is not rest in the conflict of worldviews. As Christians we are constantly engaged in a spiritual warfare with powers of wickedness we cannot see. At the same time, we live in a world teeming with worldviews that clash and conflict with Biblical teaching at every turn. We need to make sure we understand this situation and are ready at all times to take our place in living and defending the Christian worldview against all threats.

As the people of Egypt jostle to determine their future, worldviews are in conflict there which will definitely have a bearing on how we as Christians live. So this is a good time – indeed, every day is a good time – to reinforce our understanding of the conflict of worldviews and to strengthen our ability to contribute positively to the progress of the divine economy and the Kingdom of God. Here are some resources and activities to help you play a responsible role in furthering the Gospel of the Kingdom and the Christian worldview:

Resources for this topic

“Preparing for Conflict,” by T. M. Moore

“A Conflict of Hopes,” by T. M. Moore

“Worldview Weapons: Taking on the Strongholds of Secularism,” by T. M. Moore

“Worldviews,” by Jeremy Solomon

“The War of the Worldviews: The Rise of Secularism,” by Charles Colson

“Understanding the Stakes: The War of Worldviews,” by Charles Colson

“Who Are You and What Are You Up To?” by J. P. Moreland

“Remove the Blinders: Teach Your Kids Worldview,” by Charles Colson 

For more insight to this topic, get the book, Why You Think the Way You Do, by Glenn Sunshine, from our online store. 

Activities

1. Talk with your pastor and a few church leaders about this idea of “the conflict of worldviews.” How do they see this ongoing struggle? What are they doing to help church members prepare to take an active and responsible role in the conflict of worldviews? Identify at least one way that you can help your church in this matter, then get busy at your assigned task.
2. Get a few Christian friends together for coffee and conversation, and raise the question of what’s happening in Egypt as symbolic of the conflict of worldviews in which we as Christians are continually involved. Ask your friends if they feel ready to play a responsible role in the conflict of worldviews. Try to find some ways you can help one another in this important matter.
3. Email today’s Talking Points column to several Christian friends. Challenge them to read some of the resources, watch the Two-Minute Warning, and take on one of the activities.
 

A conversation starter

We need to help our fellow believers think more seriously about the conflict of worldviews. Try this conversation starter with a few of your Christian friends: “Man, the situation in Egypt should really remind us that we are constantly involved in a conflict of worldviews. What do you think?”

People who do not believe in God, or who reject the Gospel, or think that the Bible is not the Word of God, nonetheless can’t help but live by Biblical teaching. They recognize their need to love and be loved, for example, and they consent to living in structured societies governed by reliable laws. They have a sense of things beautiful and, given a sudden opportunity or emergency, will demonstrate compassion and even sacrifice to help a suffering fellow human being.

Why should they do such things? Because they can’t help themselves. They are not what they say they are – mere members of the animal kingdom, albeit of a higher order. They are the image-bearers of God, and that sense of divine beauty, justice, goodness, and truth will make itself known in a wide variety of ways. It is our being image-bearers of God that makes us all equal in the sight of God: He loves us, sustains us, provides for us, and calls us to repent and believe the Gospel.

We who understand this can surely make more of it in helping our neighbors to know the love of Christ. It’s just a matter of being prepared when the door of opportunity begins to swing open. Here are some resources and activities to help you get ready to minister to the image-bearers in your life:

Resources for this topic

“That Thudding Image,” by Catherine Claire Larson

“Still in the Image of God? The Ethical Challenge of Brain Damaged Persons,” by Derrick L. Hassert

“So Easy a Caveman Can Do It: Music and the Human Soul,” by Charles Colson

“I…Robot? What Makes Us Human?” by Rosalind Picard (lecture)

“In Whose Image?” by Stephen Webb

“Natural Law, Moral Truth, and Conscience,” by J. Budziszewski

“Making Beauty,” by T. M. Moore

“In the Name of Rover: Are Animals People, Too?” by Charles Colson

 
For more insight to this topic, get the book, Created in God’s Image, by Anthony Hoekema, from our online store. 

Activities

1. Invite some friends over for a discussion about the image of God. Watch Chuck’s Two Minute Warning and then talk about what it means to be made in the image of God and what difference that should make in the way Christians live as opposed to the way nonbelievers live. Try to reach some conclusions about how you want to express the image of God more consistently in your own life.
2. Talk with your pastor or a church leader about their understanding of the image of God. Ask how your church is consciously working to help Christians realize more of the fullness of God’s image. Encourage your pastor or church leader and promise to pray for them and the church, that together you will grow in a richer experience of being image-bearers of God.
3. Email today’s Talking Points column to several Christian friends. Challenge them to read some of the resources, watch the Two-Minute Warning, and take on one of the activities.

A conversation starter

Ask someone you know who is not a Christian: “Are human beings different from animals? I mean, in what ways are we different from animals, and how can we account for these differences?”

There are indications that the national mood toward abortion is changing. For the first time more Americans oppose legalized abortion than support it. And the new Republican Congress has made it clear that it intends to do everything in its power to bring an end to all government funding of abortion. Still, more than a million children will be sacrificed on the altar of convenience this year, so this is no time to sit back and begin savoring victory.

At the same time, we must continue to resist abortion and all anti-life measures with the kind of humility and love that show genuine concern for the wellbeing of all. Sanctity of life issues are human issues. They are also political issues, of course, and, ultimately, theological issues. We cannot claim to know and serve the God of life if we do not take our stand at every opportunity for honoring human life, beginning with life in the womb.

We need to continue preparing ourselves, praying together, and looking for ways to assert the sanctity of life into the public square, individually and in collaboration with other like-minded friends and neighbors. If you haven’t signed The Manhattan Declaration yet, this would be a good time to do so, and to urge your friends to do so as well. 

Resources for this topic

“Completely Pro-Life: Fearfully and Wonderfully Made,” by Charles Colson

“Sanctity of Life: Rethinking Eternal Truths in a New Political Era,” by David P. Gushee

“Sanctity of Life: Dying with Dignity,” by Colly Tettlebach

“Is Physician-Assisted Suicide Ever Justified?” by Robert Orr

“Sanctifying Life in the Early Church,” by David P. Gushee

“Remade in Our Image,” by Wesley J. Smith

“Faith on Fredom: The Audacity to Hope to Save the Unborn,” by Faith McDonnell

“Sign The Manhattan Declaration Today!” by Charles Colson 

For more insight to this topic, sign and get your copy of The Manhattan Declaration, and join over half a million who have made their stand for the sanctity of life. 

Activities

1. Download a copy of the study guide for The Manhattan Declaration. Work through the questions on your own, then make some copies for friends and start a discussion group on the sanctity of life, using The Manhattan Declaration as your text.
2. Give copies of The Manhattan Declaration to your church leaders. Ask them to sign it, and ask if they will help you to hold a discussion group at church on sanctity of life issues, using The Manhattan Declaration.
3. Email today’s Talking Points column to several Christian friends. Challenge them to read some of the resources, watch the Two-Minute Warning, and take on one of the activities.
 

A conversation starter

Ask a fellow believer, “Do you believe in the sanctity of human life? Have you signed The Manhattan Declaration? Why not sign it today, and join hundreds of thousands of believers in taking a stand for life, liberty, and marriage?”