Well-known evangelist and megachurch pastor Greg Laurie spoke out over the weekend against a story that described abortion as humorous and a medical student who suggested pedophilia is “natural.”
The condemnation of American culture’s increasingly leftward bent came amidst a sermon series on the Old Testament book of Daniel. The 65-year-old minister pointed to the fact that, according to Daniel 9, the biblical figure admitted he and the people of Judah were “covered with shame” for the way they sinned against God.
Laurie referenced a Teen Vogue op-ed published last week. In it, writer Solange Azor made the case for how abortion, in her view, “can be funny.”
“Have we forgotten how to blush? Have we no shame? Abortion can be funny?” Laurie inquired. “Taking the life of an innocent, unborn child is now perceived as being funny to some — that to me is just mind-blowing.”
The pastor went on to reference a TEDx talk delivered by medical student Mirjam Heine, who in May described pedophilia as a normal sexual orientation not unlike heterosexuality.
“Really?” Laurie asked. “So abortion is funny and pedophilia is normal. Have we forgotten how to blush? Have we no shame in our country today? These things are shocking and it’s happening before our very eyes.”
Laurie said we, as a culture, are “losing our sensitivity,” too overrun by stories that chronicle a society that has turned its back on morality and closed the door to God.
One of the most important things Christians need to do, Laurie said, to “re-sensitize” themselves is to “spend as much time consuming the Word of God as you do consuming social media.”
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“Give as much attention to that as you give to consuming social media,” he said, “and in two weeks you would such a radical difference you wouldn’t know what hit you.”
Laurie said the world would be a much different place if people treated the Bible the way they treat their smartphones — constantly flipping through Facebook, browsing Instagram, and scrolling through news apps.