We all know, of course, that in God’s providence some folks will not find the right mates until they are older, and some are called to singleness. Let’s hope, though, that most Christians see the value of marrying when they are closer to 20 than to 40. If some couples wait and wait until they... Continue Reading

The faith that God calls on us to have is neither blind nor irrational. And while we believe our faith is the most rational choice that we can make given the evidence, rational alone is not enough. The Bible says that without outside intervention, we are antagonistic to spiritual truths. If we rely on naked... Continue Reading

“I do not think Jesus “knew he was God” in the same sense that one knows one is tired or happy, male or female. He did not sit back and say to himself, ‘Well, I never! I’m the second person of the Trinity!’ ( N.T. Wright, The Meaning of Jesus, 154).”   I have found... Continue Reading

The trick of post-evangelical blogging is to take the issue du jour, be it gay marriage, birth control, gun control, abortion, or assisted suicide, and re-interpret it as a fundamental and authentic challenge to the assumptions of the suburban evangelicalism which for you represents the sum total of Christian belief and experience.   A lot... Continue Reading

I’ve read and heard advice about dealing with negative people. The usual advice is to avoid them. As Christians, this isn’t so easy, because they are in the Church with us, we marry them, we have them as parents. These are people and relationships that can’t be discarded or ignored. So what are we to... Continue Reading

If every locker room and restroom and after-school boys’ club is going to become a place where our sons will face someone who has openly declared (and been affirmed in) his intent to commit sexual sin, where is the relief? Where is his freedom—if only for an hour or so—from the sexual fog that permeates... Continue Reading

But let’s get back to this counseling couple and their questioning looks. “No, it’s not a necessity for you to be ‘in love,’” I continued, “but if you decide to marry, then you are bound to love one another. That’s what the vows are all about. And you recall from your experience at weddings, the... Continue Reading

I hate writing about this subject, but with both French and British parliaments passing gay marriage laws in the past week, we’re reaching a no-turning-back point in our world. God is sovereign and specializes in last minute rescues, but barring a Mordecai-type intervention we might as well face up to the reality that gay marriage... Continue Reading

For those considering a second baptism because of a later, more tangible conversion experience, rest assured that your original baptism, which signifies coming into new covenant membership, is efficacious based not on the strength of your conversion experience, but on the power of God in conferring grace to new covenant members in his own time.... Continue Reading

I was so deeply impacted by the inscription of his grave as uniquely different from so many others. Joseph Hart’s grave stone reads as follows: Joseph Hart was by the free and sovereign Grace and Spirit of God raised up from the depths of sin, and delivered from the bonds of mere profession and self-righteousness,... Continue Reading