Bethlehem College & Seminary Chancellor and Desiring God founder John Piper believes the theological concept of “Christian Hedonism” should be taught to children.

The influential author and theologian is a well-known proponent of Christian Hedonism, which is defined as pursuing divine pleasure, which leads to a sense of great joy in the believer.

In an episode of “Ask Pastor John” posted on DesiringGod.org Wednesday, a French pastor inquired about how to teach children the theological concept.

“How can I best communicate Christian Hedonism to my children during our family worship? Their ages are 5 to 12. What should be my aims and goals? Any tips for a dad like me?” he asked.

Piper responded that he advised not using the term “hedonism,” but rather teach children about the concept through “clarifying” and “exemplifying.”

When it came to clarifying, Piper said it was important to “show that the Bible commands rejoicing,” citing Philippians 4:4 (“Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice”) as an example.

“Now the children see they are not only permitted to be happy; it is required that they be happy ‘in the Lord,'” said Piper.

A Swedish university professor is being investigated for making the comment that there are biological differences between men and women. Lund University neurophysiology professor Germund Hesslow was accused by a student of making “transphobic” and “anti-feminist” statements in a lecture, and though the school has asked him to recant, Hesslow is refusing.

RT reports that during a lecture in his course on ‘Heritage and Environment’, Hesslow cited research that supports the idea that there are differences between men and women which are “biologically founded” concluding that for that reason genders cannot be regarded as merely “social constructs.”

After the lecture was over a female student complained to the department suggesting that Hesslow’s comments went against Swedish values which require all schools in Sweden to adhere to an ethical policy, which upholds egalitarian values, individual freedom and equality of the sexes.

Hesslow spoke with RT saying, some students, “for ideological reasons,” don’t like to hear certain scientific facts about biological differences between men and women. 

Reportedly, the comments were not necessarily tied to the course material but were prompted by a question asked by a student during the lecture.

“If you answer such a question you are under severe time pressure, you have to…

23-year-old Keisha Atkins died two days after having a late-term abortion and now her family is suing the facility where the procedure was performed. 

The New Mexico abortion facility performed a late-term abortion on Atkins’ last year, she was 6 months pregnant, and two days after the procedure she contracted sepsis and died.

According to Christian News, Atkins was referred by the University of New Mexico Hospital to Southwestern Women’s Options (SWO) for the procedure.

“[A]t the SWO clinic, clinic doctors, under the supervision of [abortionist] Curtis Boyd, inserted a syringe filled with dygoxin into Keisha Atkins’ stomach and injected a lethal dose into the baby causing the baby’s death,” the legal challenge states. 

“Ms. Atkins was then released from SWO clinic with her deceased baby in utero and an instruction to return to the SWO Clinic.”

Purportedly, Atkins was instructed not to contact another facility or doctor outside of SWO.

Two days later, Atkins returned for the second part of the procedure as instructed, but when she arrived she was feverish, having difficulty breathing, and had not gone into labor to dispel the aborted child, as expected.

Christian Net reports that after ten hours in this state Atkins’ condition did not improve and an ambulance was called. 

Atkins was already tachycardia at this point and her oxygen level was…

The production company and creator behind Sesame Street’s Bert and Ernie said Tuesday, the couple is not gay, refuting a comment by a show writer that suggested the characters are homosexual.

“As we have always said, Bert and Ernie are best friends,” Sesame Workshop said in a statement. “They were created to teach preschoolers that people can be good friends with those who are very different from themselves. Even though they are identified as male characters and possess many human traits and characteristics (as most Sesame Street Muppets do), they remain puppets, and do not have a sexual orientation.”

The confusion began when Sesame Street writer Mark Saltzman – who is homosexual — said he viewed Bert and Ernie as gay when he wrote scripts. 

“I remember one time that a column from The San Francisco Chronicle, a preschooler in the city turned to mom and asked ‘are Bert & Ernie lovers?,’” Saltzman told a gay new website. “And that, coming from a preschooler was fun. And that got passed around, and everyone had their chuckle and went back to it. And I always felt that without a huge agenda, when I was writing Bert & Ernie, they were. I didn’t have any other way to contextualize them.”

Saltzman said he viewed he and his boyfriend as Bert and Ernie. 

But Frank Oz, the famous puppeteer who helped create the duo and voiced Bert, said the duo are not…

Citing the growing global nature of the church, Brian Houston, global senior pastor of the popular Hillsong Church, has announced a split from Australia’s largest Pentecostal denomination to become a denomination of its own.

Since their inception, Hillsong Church has been a part of the Australian Christian Churches, a branch of the World Assemblies of God Fellowship, which is the largest Pentecostal denomination in the world. In a recent letter to the ACC, Houston said Hillsong’s operation as a church had outgrown the capacity of the ACC.

“As Hillsong Church has continued to grow, we no longer see ourselves as an Australian Church with a global footprint, but rather a Global church with an Australian base — our global office now resides in the USA. Two thirds of the people attending Hillsong Church each weekend live in countries beyond Australia. We have pastoral staff in twenty-four nations around the world, representing 123 campuses and locations, with 263 different church services on any given weekend. We consider it to be ‘One House, with many rooms,'” Houston explained in the letter.

“So with that growing footprint in mind — it has become clear to us that we…

Christian and evangelical leaders Tuesday said allegations of sexual assault against Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh should be taken seriously, although some said the timing of it makes them skeptical.

“The timing makes it all very suspect,” Tony Perkins, president of the Family Research Council, said on his radio program, Washington Watch with Tony Perkins.

If accuser Christine Blasey Ford “refuses to show” up for Monday’s Senate committee hearing to which she had been invited, “that is even more revealing than the fact that [Democrats] sat on this for six weeks,” Perkins said.

“[They] met with [Kavanaugh], did not bring it up, did not bring it up in the closed-door sessions,” Perkins said. “… [They] waited until the last moment to drop this … to keep him off the court.”

Republicans previously had scheduled a Thursday vote on Kavanaugh’s nomination. But when Ford alleged that Kavanaugh had sexually assaulted her in high school, GOP leaders delayed the vote and invited Ford and Kavanaugh to testify before the Judiciary Committee Monday. Ford’s attorney now says she wants an FBI investigation into the allegation before she speaks to the committee.

Russell Moore, president of the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention, appeared on CNN Tuesday prior to Ford’s attorney saying she wanted FBI…

Bill Hayden, a former Governor-General of Australia and lifelong atheist, has found God and gotten baptized in a Roman Catholic Church at 85 years of age.

According to The Australian, Hayden “said it was witnessing so many selfless acts of compassion by Christians over his lifetime, and deep contemplation while recovering from a stroke, that prompted his decision.” 

Australia’s The Catholic Leader reported that Hayden, who during his political career identified as a humanist, was baptized on September 9 at St. Mary’s Church in Ipswich.

Hayden revealed that he had been experiencing “a gnawing pain in my heart and soul about what is the meaning of life.”

“What’s my role in it?” he stated of the questions that bothered him.

He said that although in a declining health, he is hoping his new-found faith will inspire others.

“This took too long, and now I am going to be devoted,” Hayden noted.

“From this day forward I’m going to vouch for God,” he pledged.