Sneering at Parents, Hiding Behind “Science”
The Emergency Contraception Controversy
Kathleen Parker of The Washington Post saw through the smokescreen. “They lost me on the word women,” she wrote. Parker pointed to the argument “that any interference with the over-the-counter sale of Plan B to any female of any age is blocking a woman’s right to self-determination.” She retorted: “Fifteen-year-olds, where the Obama Administration wants... Continue Reading
Is Belief in the Second Coming of Christ Bad for Creation?
Do you believe that Jesus will return to Earth someday? Then you probably don’t care about environmental devastation and the catastrophic loss of life of future generations. That’s the absurd conclusion drawn in an academic paper published in the latest issue of Political Research Quarterly. Do you believe that Jesus will return to Earth someday?... Continue Reading
Reconsidering Suburbia
Not everybody who moves to the suburbs wants to build a gargantuan McMansion and live the full-consumerist lifestyle. Not everyone who chooses to live in the city is driven by morally pure motives; they could be refusing one kind of consumerist narcissism for the sake of embracing a more attractive version of same. Anthony Bradley,... Continue Reading
Motherhood, Untimely Born
As spiritual parents, we anticipate Christ in glory as he gathers in the nations under his Name alone, the only Name by which we are eternally known. We are able to enlarge God’s tent and ours far beyond parameters restricted by our own name or blood. By intimately ushering the motherless through the practical and... Continue Reading
Gosnell is found guilty of first degree murder
For Gosnell, this will mean either a sentence of life in prison or the death penalty
Abortion provider Kermit Gosnell was convicted Monday of three counts of first-degree murder for severing the spinal cords of infants born during abortions at his West Philadelphia clinic. Gosnell also was convicted of involuntary manslaughter in the 2009 death of 41-year-old Virginia woman Karnamaya Mongar, who died from an overdose of drugs while undergoing an... Continue Reading
Why Do We Hate the Suburbs?
I wonder if the only reason we think suburbs are bad is because we were told they were bad and we believed it.
Here are a few of the most prominent Christian objections to living in the suburbs. How many of them hold up to even a slight bit of scrutiny? Suburbs are inauthentic: I confess to not quite understanding what this means. Yes, suburban things are often newer and feature less exposed brick, but how is that... Continue Reading
A Cry for Justice: How the Evil of Domestic Abuse Hides in your Church: A Review
Victims of abuse are often discounted by their churches
The local church is one of the favorite hiding places of the abusive person. Conservative, Bible-believing religion is his frequent choice of facade. Within the evangelical church, women (and sometimes men) are being terribly abused in their homes and marriages. The children of such abusers are suffering as well. And when those victims come to... Continue Reading
What We Talk About When We Talk About God
What is Rob Bell talking about when he is talking about God? Not the God of Christianity.
In the end, my overall concern about this volume is a simple one: it is not Christian. Bell’s makeover of Christianity has changed it into something entirely different. It is not Christianity at all, it is modern liberalism. It is the same liberalism that Machen fought in the 1920’s and the same liberalism prevalent in... Continue Reading
Minority Status: How Are Christians to Respond to Their Developing Cultural Displacement?
What Scripture and the early Church teach us about how to live as a religious and cultural minority in an increasingly unchristian society
We must remember that we are not entitled to dominant or majority status, to be a major social force, in this world or age. There is no kingdom in this world over which God has granted rule to Christians or His Church. Rather, our kingdom is that of Christ, which is not of this world.... Continue Reading
Why Justification Isn’t Enough for the Christian Life
Sanctification, just as much as justification, is a gift of God in Christ Jesus
Justification is a marvelous gift, and I must continually remind myself that all my guilt has been washed away by Christ. But the problem is sin doesn’t only make me guilty legally; it also pollutes me morally. Even if I certain that I will not face God’s wrath for my impatient words to my wife,... Continue Reading