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Dear John,
This Christmas we send tidings of joy to you and your family, for we join with you in celebrating the birth of our Savior who came to give life, and life abundantly. It's also a good time to remind ourselves how amazing the Gospel story is.
Think about it. We believe a Holy, All-Powerful God had a virgin give birth to His only Son who became a carpenter and then was executed on a cross in order for us to obtain salvation--and then came back to life. That's amazing! You could even go further: you could say that it's strange.
Have you ever read Russell Moore's book Onward? He puts it this way:
[The culture today] gives the church an opportunity to do what Jesus called us to do with our marriages in the first place: to serve as a light in a dark place. Permanent, stable marriages with families with both a mother and a father may well make us seem freakish in 21st-century culture.
We should not fear that. We believe stranger things than that. We believe a previously dead man is alive, and will show up in the Eastern skies on a horse. We believe that the gospel can forgive sinners like us and make us sons and daughters. Let’s embrace the sort of freakishness that saves.
Our culture desperately needs the Life found only in Jesus Christ, and our culture will be attracted to Jesus Christ not because He is "safe" or trumpets "family values" or because His followers vote a certain way.
They are attracted to Jesus Christ because of the strangeness of the Gospel.
So join us as we embrace and live out this strange Gospel that saves lives, restores hope, and brings abundant life.
This strange Gospel is at the center of all we do.
- The Gospel is why we believe that God designed us in His image, male and female, and that attempts to thwart His design are both harmful to society and an affront to His goodness and holiness.”
- The Gospel is why we believe that every life is worthy of dignity and respect, because Christ died for all, and that no one has the right to abort, murder, or kill by assisted suicide another.
- The Gospel is why we believe that God designed us in His image, male and female, and that attempts to thwart His design are not just harmful to society, but a direct affront to a Holy God.
- The Gospel is why we advocate for godly leaders who will reflect godly values and enact godly policy--because that is truly loving your neighbor.
- And it is for the sake of the Gospel that we protect and advocate for the right to freely live out our faith, so that all may come to know the Savior of the world.
Thank you for believing alongside us that our amazing God is at work in our state. We pray that you and your family rejoice in how strange it is that our Savior came to us from Glory, through a virgin, to a manger this Christmas season. Only our wondrous God could've ordained such a gift! We also pray that your "strangeness" will impact many others during the Christmas season and throughout the new year.
May God bless you and your family this Christmas!
- The Minnesota Family Council Team
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