Slaying Popular Myths and Misrepresentations of the Crusades

History helps define us. Whether a person knows a lot of history or a little, what they do know shapes their understanding of themselves and their world. Blacks in America are shaped by segregation and slavery; Jews by Israel and the Holocaust. America’s view of government is shaped by both the Revolutionary and Civil Wars. Kentucky Basketball and Alabama Football are shaped by their histories of coaches, players, and victories.

Since God reveals himself in historical events and even entered history Himself, Christians – more than most – are shaped by history. Whether it is Roman Catholics standing on centuries of accumulated tradition, Protestants extolling the courage of pioneer missionaries, or a twenty-something looking back on his fundamentalist upbringing with angst, Christians look to the past to define their future.

Sling Your Stones at the Real Enemy, Not the Saints

DANIEL K. NORRIS

 

464

 

25

 

0

 

63

 

Evangelist Daniel K. Norris encourages believers to sling stones at the enemy, not the saints. (© Newphotoservice / StockFreeImages.com)

Serious giants are facing off against the American church at this moment. Abortion has claimed more than 50 million casualties and counting. Terrorism is no longer isolated to foreign fields. Secularism is advancing through society and infiltrating the sanctuary, and radical agendas no longer hide in secret—they’re written into law.

The church has the spiritual weapons within its arsenal to take these giants down, so why do they still stand? Sunday after Sunday we come together to celebrate, singing “How Great Is Our God” and “Nothing Is Impossible.” We sing and shout about it while the giants continue to defy it. Sound familiar? (See 1 Samuel 17.)

No doubt we could debate for countless hours about what needs to change. I believe there is one thing we can all agree must change: It’s time to stop slinging stones at the saints and start saving them for the enemy!

Why Most Men Aren’t Man Enough to Handle Web Porn

By ALAIN DE BOTTON

Agence France-Presse/Getty Images

All parties, on left and right, believe in freedom. The question is whether there are ways of having too much freedom, or of using it in the very wrong way, so that it starts to hurt other things we care about, like prosperity, safety and happiness.

The issue comes to a head with internet pornography. The standard view is that people should be left to look at porn as much as they like, just as they should be left to buy guns, eat unhealthy foods, divorce and remarry eight times and make nothing of their talents: it’s a free country, after all.

But what is freedom? If you listen to the theologian and philosopher St Augustine, real freedom doesn’t mean the right to do anything whatsoever. It means being given access to everything that is necessary for a flourishing life – and, it follows, being protected from many of the things that ruin life.