How is the Bible relevant to these stories today?

• What Time called “President Donald Trump’s final event commemorating the US’s 250^th birthday” took place in the nation’s capital Sunday as Kyle Kirkwood won the Freedom 250 Grand Prix. Mr. Trump and First Lady Melania Trump rode around the 1.7-mile race track in the presidential limousine ahead of the competition.
• Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts signed a temporary order on Friday allowing work to continue on the White House ballroom while the court considers an emergency appeal from the Trump administration. The ruling came after an appeals court earlier stopped the project.
• A giant statue mocking Mr. Trump for the US’s role in the Iran war has drawn attention in Washington, DC, as well.
• Earlier in the war, the Iranian president wrote an open letter to the American people that was widely shared on X and covered by national media.

You don’t need the word of God to explain any of these stories in isolation. Many national leaders have discretion to celebrate significant events as Mr. Trump did with the IndyCar race. Some countries place their chief executive under the final authority of other bodies such as a Supreme Court. Some allow their leader to be mocked in public. And some let the leader of a country with whom they are at war address their public directly.

But to get all four in one nation, you need the Bible. Specifically, the biblical juxtaposition of governing authority (Romans 13:1), human equality (Genesis 1:27; Galatians 3:28), and human depravity (Romans 3:23) that produces a nation with a strong executive, structural accountability, freedom of expression, and the right to be wrong.

Imagine the British prime minister staging a road race around iconic structures in London without parliamentary approval. Or the courts impinging on the authority of Kim Jong Un in North Korea or Mohammed bin Salman in Saudi Arabia. Or a statue mocking Vladimir Putin in Moscow or Xi Jinping in Beijing. Or Iran publishing an open letter from President Trump.

“It’s because they’re tired of the world”

America’s founders imagined all of that in principle. And they did so out of a biblical worldview that framed and formed their thinking, whether they were personal disciples of Jesus or not.

A groundbreaking study by political science professor Donald S. Lutz showed that the Bible was the most frequently cited source in the political literature of 1760–1805 that influenced American thought. As historian Daniel Dreisbach notes, “The Bible was the most accessible and authoritative text for eighteenth-century Americans.”

The fact that none of the stories I cited today surprised you is evidence that the biblical worldview remains influential even in a post-Christian era. So long as we aspire to the declaration that “all men are created equal,” so long as our governance advances the will of the majority while protecting the rights of the minority, we will be reflecting foundational biblical truth.

And living in a culture framed by biblical truth leaves open the door to spiritual awakening in ways that are most encouraging today.

David Henrie, an actor who rose to fame on the Disney Channel’s Wizards of Waverly Place, told Fox News Digital, “I was one of those people who was not living a Christian life and then suddenly found the world was completely empty and was searching for something otherworldly. That’s why I think you’re seeing kids flock to the faith right now. It’s because they’re tired of the world.”

His faith story is just one of many making the news these days:

• A recent Gallup poll found that 42 percent of young men now say religion is “very important” in their lives, a 14 percentage point jump from the previous year.
• The Wall Street Journal reports that “Gen Z is flocking to church for community, faith, and dates.”
• Earlier this month, nearly two thousand young people gathered for a three-day Catholic conference in Houston.
• The Passion Conference, one of the largest religious gatherings of young adults in the country, will meet this year in two stadiums for the first time to accommodate the massive crowds that will attend.

The most misnamed parable of Jesus

If we want to be catalysts for the awakening our nation needs so desperately, we need to be people of hope rather than fear, grace rather than condemnation. We need nonbelievers to believe they are welcome in our faith community. The more we leave open the door of our hearts, the more others are drawn to Christ through Christians.

If you were to name Jesus’ most beloved parable, the story of the prodigal son would have to be at the top of your list. However, I think it’s also the most misnamed of all Jesus’ parables—it should be known as “the parable of the loving father.”

It’s the father, not the prodigal, who is the hero of the story. And he’s the hero because, like the heavenly Father he represents, he was available to his wayward son the moment that son “came to himself” (Luke 15:17).

Before the prodigal could finish his rehearsed appeal to “treat me as one of your hired servants” (v. 19), the father called his servants to bring a robe, ring, and shoes signifying his son’s restored status in his family. Of course, there is another figure in the story: the older son who never left home in profligacy but who refused to celebrate his younger brother’s redemption (vv. 29–30).

Now comes the question: If you were the prodigal, which member of your family would you want to greet you at the gate?

Quote for the day:

“God gives his gifts where he finds the vessel empty enough to receive them.” —C. S. Lewis

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Denison Forum