Would I, if given the opportunity, want to go back to the '50s and '60s and live in that golden era of Southern Baptist life? Not in a heartbeat, and here is why: While I sometimes envy those pastors who lived and worked during that time of growth and prosperity, hindsight tells me their approach to theology and polity was somewhat one-dimensional, and their mission orientation was simplistic and lacking.

“In Romans 3:8, Paul establishes a standard that we ought not do evil in order to bring about good. ... The fellow who buys a condom or the woman who takes the pill does so for a specific reason: they do not trust themselves to remain chaste when presented with the opportunity,”

Every year more state money goes to deal with the high incidence of homosexual domestic violence. Since "gay marriage" began, Massachusetts has one of the highest proportions of homosexuals living as couples in the country. Given the extremely dysfunctional nature of homosexual relationships, the Massachusetts Legislature has felt the need to spend more and more money to deal with that problem.

The House of Representatives recently voted to defund all National Science Foundation funding of political science. The House also approved cutting the American Community Survey and the Economic Census, which together provide key economic data such as quarterly estimates of gross domestic product. Senate Democrats oppose the cuts, which are not expected to become law

(Editor's Note: Franchise owner Erik Devriendt and his wife, Kate, are members of Grace Community (PCA) in Mechanicsville, VA (Erik is a Deacon) and are - along with their two young children - part of the launch team that is planting a daughter congregation in the city to be known as Northside Church of Richmond

"The Kentucky Court of Appeals has issued a sweeping invalidation of seminary tenure in the Commonwealth of Kentucky," said Jones. “They have turned a CME layman and a Jewish academic into ministers of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ).” That in itself, he said, violates religious freedom.

In his chapter, Thomas outlines several bad homiletical models. Surprisingly, every model indicts our heroes. Thomas is quick to say that the model itself may not be the problem, but the use of it often is. Even our favorite preachers or favorite kinds of preaching carry with them great dangers, especially when they are held up as the way to do things.

I see the desire for a great leader to unite Christians as irrelevant, an imposition of Carlylean or celebrity culture thinking on the Bible. The New Testament knows of no such thing. When facing the end of the time of the apostles, Paul does not tell Timothy to look for the dynamic individual to whom all can look for leadership; rather, he tells him to appoint ordinary, respectable, competent members of the church community as overseers.

Unfortunately, instead of encouraging people to speak their thoughts, feelings, and opinions, we have discouraged people from speaking at all. We have encouraged “civil”–that is, noncontroversial–, conversations full of platitudes and qualifiers, devoid of feeling or passion, offending no one but saying nothing. We have squelched robust conversation for fear of offense or error, resulting in the suppression of both error and the truth.

In other words, I can hold to the value that other people have a right to their beliefs, without believing that all points of view are equally valid. Or be compelled to uphold the pursuit of such beliefs.