Category: Albert Mohler

Albert Mohler on Youth Ministry

Time Magazine surprised both Al Mohler and I by posting an article about Youth Ministry and the fact that evangelicals are focusing more and biblical centered Youth Ministry and doctrinal youth ministry.

A Great Radio program on Friday from Al Mohler discusses youth ministry that focuses on the Word of God and the gospel.

Should Unbelievers Have Children?

Last night Dr. Mohler appeared on CNN. The topic was “Childless By Choice.” It was an interesting discussion. (Transcript here via Steve Weaver)
It made me ask: Why should I care if unbelievers choose not to have kids? Should unbelievers have children? Here’s how I would answer.

  1. Children are a gift from God. Just as God blesses all people with rain and sunshine, he allows even the wicked to have children.

  2. Children are a means of common grace. The responsibility and the joys of parenthood change who us for the better. The drama of family life often cuts the bonds of selfishness and sloth. Human depravity is characterized by the corruption of our created nature. Parenthood can counteracts this.

  3. Children are assumed in the biblical description of marriage and family. This is illustrated in the accounts of barren women. Often these women say childlessness as a disgrace.

I’d like to hear some other perspectives as well.

What makes a civilization throw away children?

I just read this from Dr. Mohler’s blog:

Here is evidence of cultural disaster: Russians, whose lives are shorter and poorer than they were under communism, have more abortions than births to avoid the costs of raising children, Bloomberg.com reported Tuesday quoting the country’s highest-ranking obstetrician. About 1.6 million women had an abortion last year, a fifth of them under the age of 18, and about 1.5 million gave birth, said Vladimir Kulakov, vice president of the Russian Academy of Medical Sciences. “Many more” abortions weren’t reported. [See Moscow News]

In 1991, the International Herald Tribune reported: “An entrenched ‘abortion culture’ in Russia and Eastern Europe has outlived the collapse of communism by more than a decade.” More from the article: The most startling statistics come from Russia, where abortion is used more than anywhere else in Europe — measured both in absolute terms and per capita. According to the World Health Organization, Russian women in 1990 registered 1,971 abortions for every 1,000 live births — or roughly two abortions for every childbirth. A decade later, the ratio stubbornly remains at 1,696 abortions per 1,000 births.

And it reminded me of this from Dr. Moore:

Russia’’s orphans & the Father of the fatherless
By Russell D. Moore Aug 22, 2005

Somewhere in the Kremlin right now, officials are weighing whether to cut off the adoption of Russian children to Americans and other foreigners. As I type this, two former Russian orphans, my sons Benjamin and Timothy, are running around my chair singing songs.

The Russian orphanage where my wife and I found our sons, then Maxim and Sergei, was the most horrifying place I have ever been. Its sights and smells and sounds come back to me every day. But, even more so, before my mind’s eye every day are the faces of the children we couldn’t adopt. Until now, my hope has been that Christians from America, Canada, Germany, France or somewhere may have adopted them, to raise them in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. If the anti-adoption Russians get their way, I fear that these children will be sentenced to institutions, never to find families. read the full article here

What is going on?
What makes a civilization throw away children?

Will The Next Generation Treasure Christ?