Film Review: God Loves Uganda

God Loves Uganda Cover

God Loves Uganda — a faulty premise that neglects important details and falls for grandiose stereotyping.

This documentary film by the acclaimed director Roger Ross Williams is a story about the complex mix of homosexuality, faith and politics in Uganda. He sees it as religious fanaticism stoking the flames of hatred and forcefully blames the influence of American evangelicals as the root cause of Ugandan homophobia.

His documentary thesis is supported by filming a devoted group of followers, and highlighting one of their former leaders, Lou Engle, from the International House of Prayer — an unaffiliated charismatic community located in Kansas City.

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Evangelicals and Health Care Ethics

How health care ethics need to be ingrained in the fabric of the evangelical mindset.
Technology has introduced great breakthroughs on issues of life and death but has also naturally brought about new ethical issues that the traditional faith has not been prepared to engage in.
Most evangelicals are left with making life or death decisions, not on the basis of religious piety, but the insistence of economics or social convenience. They are game time decisions made in hospitals and doctors offices. These decisions are not considered the role of the church or faith. It is just what has to be done. Faith comes later.

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Evangelicals on the Problem of Being Saved

What does it mean to be saved to the Christian devotee? A journey into finding the Evangelical definition, the core fragments of it, and the differences within these communities.

This is a look at the various attempts to define the word saved within the contemporary Evangelical Church. A definition that has spread and influenced the Charismatic, Pentecostal, and Third Wave Church institutions.

In general, the modern definition of saved according to many contemporary Evangelical Churches is a defined spiritual relationship with Jesus Christ. How this relationship begins and the nuances that publicly confirm such a declaration varies slightly from denomination to denomination. The rudiments consist of acknowledging one’s shame, the inability to correct behavior, the need for divine intervention, and the promise of a changed life. The only choice for a divine intervention is through the office of Jesus Christ, who substitutes Himself as both the sufferer and the redeemer. This portrait of Jesus, according to Evangelical doctrine, is the only way to forge a relationship with a God who cannot have any form of sin in His presence. It is also a prerequisite to gain entrance into heaven. A volitional declaration that is verbally expressed both privately and publicly.

Normally, this realization is a one-time intense emotional experience understood as an epiphany between God and the person — a mystical union. This moment is dated, qualified, and publicly expressed. Other terms used are ‘born again’ or ‘conversion.’ A qualified experience is usually necessary for full entrance into an evangelical community.

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