Kevin Shrum
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9 Reasons People Leave the Church When the Church Isn't to Blame
The question, "Why are people leaving the church?" raises several issues critical to the health and life of the church, especially the church in North America.
An Open Letter to my LBGT Friends and Neighbors
The U.S. Supreme Court ruling on June 26, 2015 has changed everything and nothing for Christians. For churches that have already capitulated on this issue the matter is settled. For Christians who oppose the issue, the matter is far from settled — it's only just begun.
Indiana's Religious Freedom Law: A Dead Conscience Is a Danger We Must Resist
The uproar over Indiana's religious freedom law pits the individual conscience against the "public ethic," with the word bigotry thrown in for added intensity. But in leaving no room for religious convictions, as critics of the law would have it, are we heading toward demanding that people's conscience be restrained or killed if they step outside of their home?
Why I am Disappointed in Matthew Vines' Book
Matthew Vines, the celebrated, gay-affirming (his type of term) ex-evangelical with a supposedly high view of Scripture, has written a book entitled, God and the Gay Christian: The Biblical Case in Support of Same-Sex Relationships. I cannot begin to tell you how disappointed I am in this book. Let me count the ways.
3 Options for Engaging Culture for Jesus
In addition to the front-line issues facing Christians these days there is a behind-the-scenes argument taking place within the Christian community that is acute and probing: How are we to engage culture from a decidedly Christian worldview? The argument is often heated and divisive. It is an argument worth having.
The Truth About Post-Christian America
How does one live as a Christian in an era where same-sex marriage is now the norm, where homosexuality is openly celebrated, where hypocrisy in the church is consistently exposed, where atheism is not just an alternative intellectual option, but a hostile enemy, where Christianity is viewed as the enemy and not the founder and friend of America, and where the "spiritual shallowness" of many Christians, especially evangelical Christians, is being exposed for what it is - an Americanized version
10 Truths About Salvation Every Person Must Know (Part 3)
In two previous articles (here and here) six great truths concerning the gospel have been identified and discussed. Let me now consider the final four truths that bring to completion Ten Truth About Salvation Every Person Must Know.
10 Truths About Salvation Every Person Must Know (Part 2)
Truth #4: The drama of salvation takes a beautiful turn at this point - God enters history. God saves us without condition – that is, we don't meet a set of conditions that make us desirable to save. Instead, we are totally saved by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone.
10 Truths About Salvation Every Person Must Know (Part I)
I want to make what I believe to be are ten essential statements that consider all the varying aspects of the gospel of Jesus Christ so that terms like "gospel" and "good news" might be better understood. Let's look at three in this article.
5 Questions Every Person Must Answer, Including the Religious 'Nones'
These questions are but five of a whole host of questions any belief system must ask and answer. The concerning thing about modern-day atheism is not its existence, but its shallowness. Again, atheism is not new. But one gets the sense that the atheism of the current day is not dealing with the great questions of life and death honestly and forthrightly; rather the new atheism seems to be the yearning for humanity to be totally free from any temporal, external, objective, or eternal explanations