North Korea Deserves Unrelenting Attention for Unrelenting Atrocities
The only person born in a North Korean political prison who is known to have escaped, still bears the scars of his experience
Andrew Natsios, co-chair for the Committee for Human Rights in North Korea and former vice president of World Vision, thinks it will be a long time before people in North Korea regain their rights. The best thing the world can do, he said, is to publicize the nation’s oppression: “I think we should simply be... Continue Reading
Childish Tendencies
A window into the self-absorbed hipster, ‘Obvious Child’ is painful to watch
Despite Obvious Child’s attempt to be a gritty, independent film, the realism is limited to Donna’s millennial attitude. Here Juno distinguishes itself again. Juno, which won an Oscar for best original screenplay, allowed its story to remain first. The writer, Diablo Cody, wasn’t a pro-life lobbyist with a checklist. But in Obvious Child, the story is reduced to... Continue Reading
Will the True Prophet Please Stand Up?
United Methodist minister who lost his credentials, that have been reinstated, is traveling around as a "prophet" calling people to follow the evolving culture
That’s the real issue. Should we be governed by whatever each of us believes is right (as in Judges 21:25, when every man did that which was right in his own eyes), or are individuals – and cultures – better off by following what a wise Creator has revealed in His Word about how He... Continue Reading
An Open Letter to Swarthmore’s Board of Managers
What Swarthmore should seek: the true mission of liberal education, which is to prepare students for the rights and responsibilities of freedom by furnishing and refining their minds
The repudiation of due process, the determination to recast opposing opinions and those who hold them as evil, the refusal to vigorously defend the free exchange of ideas — these are signs that one of the nation’s great liberal arts colleges, like many of its peers, has lost sight of the aim and operation of... Continue Reading
The Presbyterian Church (USA) Removes Controversial ‘Zionism Unsettled’ from Denomination’s Website
The PCUSA has removed from its website a booklet that many Jewish groups have criticized as hostile to Israel and denigrating to Judaism
In a flurry of statements released after the PCUSA removed “Zionism Unsettled” from its website, Jewish organizations applauded the move, but still chided the church. “An anti-Israel and anti-Semitic document of this kind should have never been published by a church-affiliated organization, let alone marketed by the Presbyterian Church (USA) on its website,” said Rabbi David... Continue Reading
Anti-semitism and the Shame of the PCUSA
The PCUSA has raised its hand against Israel. So now either my congregation must depart the PCUSA or I must depart my congregation.
In this “open letter,” the most tortured, pharisaical logic is employed to leverage money against the Jewish homeland. The “divestment” urged does not advance peace in the region. It does not thwart terror. It is silent on the fact that at the very moment of its sending an American teenager and two other Israeli teens... Continue Reading
Iraq Militants Announce New Islamic State
An al-Qaida breakaway group that seized large swaths of Iraq in recent weeks declared June 29 the creation of a new religious state in Iraq and Syria
The militant group called the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant announced it will now be known as The Islamic State. The announcement could force other jihadist groups to either join or fight the group, which lays claim to billions of dollars in assets, scores of communities and operations that extend into Turkey and... Continue Reading
Ebooks v Paper
Which do our brains prefer? Research is forcing us to rethink how we respond to the written word
Overall, there doesn’t seem to be any convincing evidence that reading on screen or paper is better per se. “If the cognitive component is strong,” suggests Benedetto, “the cultural one is even stronger.” For Margolin, “the preference for reading on paper or a screen seems to be just that: a preference.” And, increasingly, younger people... Continue Reading
Churches Unmoored: The Gospel vs. Gimmicks
Paul preached the Gospel to a culture that was very pagan, immoral, sexually perverse, multicultural, commercialized, power-hungry and driven to distraction by entertainment. Does that sound familiar?
How did Paul reach such a society? He did so in a way that deliberately went against all of the advice modern-day church growth experts would give. He preached the Gospel, even refusing to use words of eloquent wisdom as he did so. He preached a message that was “a stumbling block to Jews and... Continue Reading
A Rejoinder: Clair Davis Responds to Richard Gaffin On Recent Events at Westminster Seminary
The question on how shall we read the Bible is of major and ongoing concern to the whole church of Jesus Christ
As I look at Dick Gaffin’s main response, I think his point is that there is something artificial about the grammatical-historical method that we all try to master. Even when we’re focusing on how concepts found in the Bible were used in ancient culture, we’re still full of gospel joy and love as we already... Continue Reading