Tag: Ethics

Ethics Courses for the Fall Semester

~ Evan Lenow ~ 1 Comment

stack_of_booksI haven’t ever posted my teaching schedule here, but some people may be interested in what I am teaching. You may even be considering whether or not to take one of my classes. So this is your opportunity to get a glimpse of what I will be teaching at SWBTS and what my syllabi look like.

The Christian Home (Mon at 6:15 pm or Tues/Thurs at 8:30 am): This is a class focused on the ethics of marriage and family. I will cover a theology of marriage, divorce, remarriage, singleness, gender roles, sexuality, and distorted sexuality. There are two sections of this class. Christian Home Syllabus (Mon) Christian Home Syllabus (Tues/Thurs)

The Bible and Moral Issues (Wed/Fri at 8:30 am): This class is an introduction to biblical ethics. I begin by laying a foundation of the Bible’s role in ethics and morality. Then I lead the class through the Ten Commandments as a guide for doing biblical ethics. In addition to the obvious applications of the Ten Commandments (murder, adultery, theft, etc), we also delve into topics such as anger, lust, property rights, civil disobedience, and truth-telling. Bible and Moral Issues Syllabus

Selected Issues of Life and Death (Tues/Thurs at 11:30 am): This class is an upper-level ethics elective (prerequisites required) where we will discuss the issues of abortion, assisted reproductive technologies, genetic engineering, aging, death, euthanasia, and capital punishment. Selected Issues of Life and Death Syllabus

Spiritual Formation (Wed at 11:30): This is the basic spiritual formation course for all first year master’s students at SWBTS. After seven years of teaching here, it is hard to believe that this will be my first semester to lead this course.

If you are interested in any of these classes, it is not too late to register. If you just want to follow along with what I am teaching, you can always take a look at the course schedule near the end of each syllabus.

Biblically Correct on Kindle for $1.99 Starting Thursday

~ Evan Lenow

My recent Bible study, Biblically Correct: Engaging Culture with Truth, will be available on Kindle at a special price starting Thursday. Rather than $6.99, you can get it for $1.99 Thursday through Sunday (July 10-13). After Sunday, it will return to regular price. If you are looking for a Bible study for your church small group or personal use and you want to learn how to address some of the most pertinent topics of the day, this is a great opportunity to preview the study on Kindle.

If you have any questions about the study, feel free to ask me in the comments section or send me an email via the address linked in my faculty profile on the right. If your church would like 10+ copies of the print edition, contact me for special pricing.

*Stay tuned in coming weeks for the release of my next study, Biblically Sound: Embracing Doctrine for Life.

**If you have already , I would love to have more reviews on Amazon. Just log on and write a review. Thanks.

On Choosing Books: Reading from the Other Side

~ Evan Lenow ~ 3 Comments

stack_of_booksIt’s that time of year again when I have to submit book requests to our campus bookstore for the upcoming semester (technically, it is past time, but the bookstore is always gracious to those of us who miss the initial deadline). For many of my classes, I have developed a standard list of books that I revisit every couple of years to see if there are any better ones. However, each of the last few semesters, I have taught at least one class that is new to my teaching repertoire. This fall it will be Selected Issues in Life and Death—basically a class dealing with various cultural issues of life and death, such as abortion, euthanasia, and human genetic engineering.

When selecting books for this class, I have decided to do something a little different. I have chosen a significant text edited by someone with whom I ardently disagree on these issues. My goal is to have students interact with and engage the best thinkers on the other side of the debate.

I generally survey fellow ethics colleagues at other seminaries before choosing books for new classes just to see if I am missing a key text. While interacting with my PhD mentor on my selection of texts for this class, I mentioned the book I planned to use from the other side of the debate and told him the names of some of the contributors. His response was priceless. He said, “I really like the names you’ve listed for your purposes. [Author X] is scary. Thus a good read.”

For most of my academic career, I have heard Dr. Paige Patterson (president of my seminary) say that students need to know the arguments of the best thinkers who disagree with our positions. My approach to this in the past has been to bring in their works and read/present selections to the students in class. This is the first time I have made a concerted effort to ask my students to buy and read something so diametrically opposed to a Christian perspective on an ethical issue.

By the end of this class, my students will understand the arguments of those who want to promote abortion at any cost, euthanize the weak and poor, and produce designer babies. With appropriate guidance from their professor, I hope they will also be able to critique and combat those arguments.

Far too often Christians find themselves wrapped in their bubble of Christian books and Christian arguments hearing tales of what people on the outside believe. I want my students to read firsthand what people outside our Christian bubble think. That is the only way we can truly know how to engage the culture.

The task will not be easy, but it should be a fun ride. As one of my former professors used to say, “Strap on your helmets, boys, we’re going to war.”

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For those of you wanting to know, the book I chose is Bioethics: An Anthology edited by Helga Kuhse and Peter Singer. Singer is famous for believing that humans have no right to life until at least 6–12 months in age (but possibly as late as 3 years). At the same time, he believes we could control the population by euthanizing all the elderly and infirm. And his is not the most extreme view in the book.

Biblically Correct Now Available for Kindle

~ Evan Lenow

My 10-week Bible study on ethics and engaging the culture is now available for Kindle. You can purchase Biblically Correct through the Kindle Store on Amazon. If you have already purchased a print copy, you will be able to purchase the Kindle version at a reduced price through the Kindle MatchBook program (it may take a few days before this is available).

If you are interested in purchasing the print version, you can find it here or on Amazon. You can also watch videos of Bellevue Baptist Church’s Women’s Ministry teaching through this study on Right Now Media or at Bellevue’s website.

My next study, Biblically Sound: Embracing Doctrine for Life, should be available in the next month or so.

If your church is interested in working through either of these 10-week studies, I can assist you in getting larger quantities of the books. Feel free to click on my faculty profile on the right side of the page to contact me.

Can a Christian Be Gay?: The New Question in Evangelicalism

~ Evan Lenow ~ 2 Comments

There is a new book making waves in evangelicalism with its release today. God and the Gay Christian: The Biblical Case in Support of Same-Sex Relationships by Matthew Vines sets out to change 2,000 years of church history (and thousands more of Jewish history) regarding Scriptural teaching on homosexuality.

The promotional material for the book claims that it provides a way to interpret key biblical texts related to homosexuality that “honors those who are different and the authority of Scripture.” The unique feature of this book is that Vines claims to hold that Scripture is authoritative on this issue. He writes, “Like most theologically conservative Christians, I hold what is often called a ‘high view’ of the Bible. That means I believe all of Scripture is inspired by God and authoritative for my life. While some parts of the Bible address cultural norms that do not directly apply to modern societies, all of Scripture is ‘useful for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness’ (2 Timothy 3:16–17, NRSV)” (p. 2).

Vines first reached popularity when the video of his teaching in a church went viral. From that point forward, he has been the “go-to man” for affirming homosexuality within the text of Scripture.

As others have noted, Vines has not actually presented any new arguments for interpreting Scripture in support of homosexuality. Most of his arguments come from well-established books on this issue by John Boswell, Robin Scroggs, and others. The difference, however, is that he claims to believe the inspiration and authority of Scripture—unlike previous authors.

In contrast to what Vines claims, this book has the potential to do great damage to people’s faith in the authority and veracity of Scripture. Vines applies a cultural hermeneutic to the text of the Bible, interpreting God’s Word through the lens of the gay rights movement. In addition, he elevates personal experience—specifically his own story—to a place of authority over the text. If Scripture and experience come into tension, he believes that experience must win out.

I have interacted with Vines’ work before in a series of articles that can be found here. While I believe that Vines is wrong on the interpretation of Scripture, we cannot simply ignore his work. He stands to be a major voice for people who want to remove the tension between Scripture and homosexuality.

At the end of the day, however, I am always drawn back to what Paul says in 1 Corinthians 6:9–11. He writes, “Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived; neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor homosexuals, nor thieves, nor the covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers, will inherit the kingdom of God. Such were some of you; but you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and in the Spirit of our God.”

I deal with the terms “effeminate” and “homosexuals” in other articles, but I want to note what Paul says at the end of this passage. After listing a number of sins that are condemned in Scripture, he states, “Such were some of you. . . .” We see here that members of the church in Corinth were former fornicators, former idolaters, former adulterers, former homosexuals, etc. The reason they are no longer these things is that they were washed, sanctified, and justified “in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and in the Spirit of our God.” These are no longer the behaviors of people who claim to be Christians. This is not where they find their identity anymore. The power of Christ can overcome these sins—including homosexuality.

Below are resources from me responding to Matthew Vines’ views on homosexuality and the Bible.

Is Being Alone a Sin?: Answering Matthew Vines Part 1

Are Homosexual Relationships “Unnatural”?: Answering Matthew Vines Part 2

Does the Denial of Same-Sex Marriage Inflict Undue Pain?: Answering Matthew Vines Part 3

What Did Jesus Teach about Homosexuality?: Answering Matthew Vines Part 4

Lillian Kwon, “Theologians Find Vines’ ‘Homosexuality Is Not a Sin’ Thesis Not Persuasive,” The Christian Post, September 28, 2012. (Quoted throughout article)