Parenting, of course, is not a precise recipe. Follow the steps and…voila, out pops a fear-of-the-Lord, covenant-keeping, wise young adult. Such parenting would actually oppose the way God does things. All we would have to do is trust in our steps and everything goes fine. Instead, the (much better) system we have received is one... Continue Reading

Rebecca Todd Peters writes in her new book, “Trust Women: A Progressive Christian Argument for Reproductive Justice,” that we should trust women to decide what is best for them in matters of childbearing. She claims that if Christians “truly value women and healthy families,’ they must accept that not wanting a baby “is an imminently appropriate... Continue Reading

In our last post on the issue, we looked at 25 consequences of sexual sin. Today, we will briefly look at ways in which individuals slide into sexual sin. Proverbs 7 is a sobering play-by-play of the slide into sexual sin. From it we can make a few observations to prepare ourselves accordingly.   Few people set... Continue Reading

Recently Giglio made news, on social media anyway, by announcing “For two Sundays, August 26th + September 2nd, our House will be stepping away from our normal weekend routine and into the rhythm of Sabbath.” This announcement produced howls of protest. I would be among the critics of this move but before we get to criticism there... Continue Reading

But the first amendment is designed precisely to protect your right to say something stupid. Not in service of proliferating ignorance, but rather from a desire to protect its citizens from a much greater menace, namely, the establishment of an oligarchy with the power to arbitrate which statements, which beliefs, and which thoughts are and... Continue Reading

According to Roman Catholic scholars, there have been no fewer than forty-six “antipopes” in the history of the papacy, and in the early fifteenth century there were no fewer than three popes ruling simultaneously. How we number the antipopes depends, of course, on when we consider the papacy actually to have begun. Even if we... Continue Reading

What happens when a couple enters marriage and they don’t really know each other? Of course, engaged and newlywed couples can’t possibly know each other to the degree they will after years of marriage. Wise pre-marital counseling usually addresses important issues like family history, faith, finances, children, sex, roles, etc. However, often people marry having avoided a... Continue Reading

When God describes self-control, he doesn’t downplay the agony of it. As Paul writes to Titus, self-control means we must “renounce ungodliness and worldly passions” (Titus 2:12). The word for renounce here is a severe word — the same word Jesus uses when he says, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross... Continue Reading

Nuclear weapons are just the tip of the iceberg of the politics of apocalypse, the most visible and spectacular perhaps, but a piece of a plague of fears and uncertainties about what it means to be human and whether the systems and institutions of our design have not, in some way, changed or challenged basic... Continue Reading

Edwards had preached “Sinners in the Hands of An Angry God” before. He had preached it at Northampton, in his own home church. There were no reported astonishing manifestations, or response, or emotion, at that time of preaching. But now he came to preach it at Enfield–this town holding out against the revival–and God blessed... Continue Reading