What if Life Was Complex?
The bleak and disturbing future of the "Evangelical Industrial Complex"
The key books on pastoral ministry would be written by men who either have no real experience of anything approaching normal pastoral ministry or have not had such for decades. Students at seminaries would rarely, if ever, name their own pastors as the most influential preachers in their lives. Multi-site video churches would spring up,... Continue Reading
Message Received: Wycliffe Translations and the Insider Movement
Wycliffe pledges to comply with an audit panel’s recommendations on controversial Bible translation practices
“The WEA Panel (hereafter referred to as ‘Panel’) recommends that when the words for ‘father’ and ‘son’ refer to God the Father and to the Son of God, these words always be translated with the most directly equivalent familial words within the given linguistic and cultural context of the recipients,” the report says. After a... Continue Reading
The Campbellsville Case and the Crisis of Presbyterian Ecclesiology
Could Presbyterians learn something from the way the SBC holds seminaries accountable to the church?
Here we find a strong affirmation of accountability by agencies and institutions to the church, and one that is grounded theologically in a recognition of the communion of saints—past, present and future. We also see here a keen sense of the church’s sacred stewardship of the gospel. All this should warm the cockles of a... Continue Reading
Letter to a Parent Grieving the Loss of a Child
Pastoral words for a difficult situation
God’s crucial word on grieving well is 1 Thessalonians 4:13: “We do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about those who are asleep, that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope.” Yours is a grieving with hope. Theirs is a grieving without hope. That is the key difference. There is... Continue Reading
The “Calvin As Tyrant Meme”
The meme is that Calvin’s God was a tyrant and the corollary to that divine tyranny is Calvin’s allegedy tyranny over the civil life on Geneva
Calvin had far more influence over civil life than we are accustomed to seeing but he was no tyrant in Geneva. He was not even a citizen until late in his life. He was a sixteenth-century man and a Constantinian—but so was most everyone else in the period. The real argument here cannot reasonably be... Continue Reading
Share The Gospel. Even If You Do It Poorly.
The gospel involves words, but it's not our persuasiveness that saves
This is liberating when we share the gospel with our children, friends and relatives. It’s not our brilliant articulation that saves anyone – it’s the power of the word of God and the Holy Spirit. Of course we want to express God’s truth as clearly as we can, but even if we stumble and share... Continue Reading
The Four Things Tim Tebow Could Do With His Life Now
So what does Tebow do now?
The New York Jets released Tim Tebow this morning, putting an end to, well, not much. Tebow had a total of eight passes as a Jet. He completed six of them. He ran for a total of 102 yards. The Jets never really used him. So what does he do now? Here are four... Continue Reading
We’re all broken. What then?
The choices we all make in either turning brokenness into sin or finding ways to avoid sinful behavior
Piper notes that homosexuality is not “the worst possible thing imaginable,” but it is a brokenness—and all of us are broken in some way. I know I’m broken, and Piper points out the choice all of us have to make: “I can choose to let that brokenness govern me and turn it into sins. Or... Continue Reading
Virtue Matters More Than Money
Without wise stewardship the fast acquisition of wealth will find one quickly living in poverty.
The recent Allen Iverson news, in particular, has caused many to revisit this issue in new ways. When thinking about what sustains success in the long-run we are foolish as a society if we think that social mobility can be sustained without moral formation. Athletes are people who should be treated with dignity and not... Continue Reading
Learning from the Failures of Science
Evolution and Racism: Apes to Men or Men to Apes?
Sadly, as in the antebellum period, many pastors failed to use their influence to challenge this incredible racism.4 Some opposed the display because of its evolutionary implications, and they were right to do so. In this instance, scientific theory needed to be confronted with a biblical view of humanity’s existence in the image of God.... Continue Reading