A Booby Trap in the Christian Budget
Is my spending so cautious that it’s captured my heart and keeps me from loving those close to me well?
We have a lot to say to the hoarders and spenders among us, but let’s remember money can seduce even the savers, those with the tightest fists and strictest budgets. A cheap lifestyle might be free from lots of things, but spending less is no guarantee of freedom from the love of money. The... Continue Reading
On (Not) Listening to Recorded Sermons
Just because technology makes something easier and more convenient doesn’t mean it is right, proper, and good.
“When we listen to an MP3 recording of a sermon, we are not listening to preaching, but to an echo of preaching that happened in the past. Listening on my own to a recording can never be more than a poor second-best to actually being there with the people of God in a local church. ... Continue Reading
Must We Believe in an Historical Adam?
Science is not an omnicompetent, but is being increasingly exalted to an almost supreme status as the arbiter of what we can know and are to believe.
The question faced in a growing number of churches is whether or not it is acceptable to claim respect for the authority and inerrancy of Scripture while at the same time denying that Adam and Eve were a special creation of God from the dust of the ground at a particular point in history and... Continue Reading
Baptist Church in Ky. Plans First Gay Wedding
Highland Baptist is affiliated with the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship and the Kentucky Baptist Fellowship
When Phelps first arrived at Highland Baptist in 1997, he said there was a don’t ask, don’t tell policy regarding gays. The following year, a gay couple’s photograph appeared in the church directory, and slowly the church began to openly welcome lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender members and dedicate their children, he said. In 2012,... Continue Reading
The Case for Heterosexuality
Complementarity and its necessity for reproduction are surely cues as to what nature expects for human relationships
If someone wants to pound nails with wrenches and drive screws with butter knives, and then to prevail upon his neighbor and his tools when he needs serious work done, then shall we call him a carpenter on par with his neighbor? Some seem to be answering “yes”; and they are not just asking that... Continue Reading
The New Sins of ‘Nonjudgmental’ Millennials
Millennials have sloughed off the religious notions of their parents and grandparents and have a new set of mandates and dictates to guide their lives
I don’t mean to imply, of course, that all Millennials have rejected religion in favor of a kind of angry, portentous neo-paganism, only that a great many members of this age demographic have more or less done away with religious belief, and in the absence of religion they have ascribed a quasi-religious morality to a great many... Continue Reading
Sanctification: Answering The Gospel Reformation Network’s Five Questions
Answering the GRN’s Five Questions on sanctification
As a pastor, I think it is important to know your people. Where are they? What do they need now? Sometimes they need a kick in the butt. Some of them may need to look at the question of faith – in whom, for what, by what means. But I guess I have become increasingly... Continue Reading
Get a Basic Overview of the Bible
If we believe the Bible is the Word of God, it’s natural not to want to miss a word of it
Exodus is likewise gripping, as it tells the poignant story of Israel’s enslavement in Egypt and of its liberation under the leadership of Moses. The contest with Pharaoh is exciting. But when we get to Leviticus, everything changes. It’s difficult reading about the ceremonies, the sacrifices, and the cleansing rituals because they are foreign to... Continue Reading
‘Paedophilia Is Natural and Normal For Males’
Academic presentation: “At least a sizeable minority of normal males would like to have sex with children … Normal males are aroused by children.”
With the Pill, the legalisation of homosexuality and shrinking taboos against premarital sex, the Seventies was an era of quite sudden sexual emancipation. Many liberals, of course, saw through PIE’s cynical rhetoric of “child lib”. But to others on the Left, sex by or with children was just another repressive boundary to be swept away... Continue Reading
Swing Voters Say They Will Now Back Women Bishops in Church of England
Pivotal votes of a number of members of the General Synod who helped to defeat the women-bishops Measure in 2012 have swung to the Yes camp
“What has persuaded me to vote in favour this time is the House of Bishops’ statement of five principles,” he said. “The risk is that that is a statement of intent and there isn’t really a legislative provision backing it up; so I will be stepping out in faith, as it were.” The pivotal... Continue Reading