A Prayer about the Manger and Isaiah’s Tender Shoot
If I can make progress in only one thing this Advent season, Lord Jesus, may it be to have a much greater esteem for you
Who could have dreamt that the mighty arm of the Lord would be revealed most powerfully in the weakness of your birth? Who has believed our message and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed? He grew up before him like a tender shoot, and like a root out of dry... Continue Reading
Clarifying Words on Wife Abuse
An abusive husband is breaking God’s law…He is not to be indulged but disciplined by the church
For many women, the thought of a husband going to jail and losing his job and being publicly shamed is so undesirable that they often endure much sin before becoming desperate enough to turn to the authorities. What I want to stress is that long before they reach a point of desperation — or harm... Continue Reading
One Nation Under God?
Today’s spiritual independents are not unprecedented. What is new is their increasing visibility
“I like the fact that we’re getting more ‘nones’ because it helps Christians realize that they’re different,” Stanley Hauerwas, a Protestant theologian at Duke Divinity School, said when I asked for his thoughts on the Pew poll. “That’s a crucial development. America produces people that say, ‘I believe Jesus is Lord, but that’s just my... Continue Reading
Why Johnny Can’t Evangelize
Could it be that we need to do a lot more in-reach before we are successful in out-reach?
The problem is Unchurched Joe isn’t looking for a 5-minute Christian infomercial. His need is not for information about Christianity; he needs a demonstration of it. He knows about the scandals surrounding evangelical celebrities… He hears that evangelicals get divorced at about the same rate as the general population. He may be aware that in... Continue Reading
A Christian Worldview and the Sandy Hook Horror
Christians need to play a key role in the public discourse on horrors like Sandy Hook
We know there is something wrong in our world that a man would murder children like he did. Our grief over the way things are points us to the reality of a perfect world that is yet to come. The consummation of all of Jesus’ work will be when he comes to restore the world... Continue Reading
How Do We Redeem Christmas?
Christians have been trying to redeem this thing called “Christmas” for about two thousand years
Every generation of Christians has tried to redeem the holidays and every generation has come up with a slightly different approach. All I hope to accomplish here is to explain those various approaches…each one of them was a sincere attempt at obeying “redeeming the time.” Our fathers in the faith acknowledged that the days are evil –... Continue Reading
The Angel Was… a Calvinist!?
The title is tongue-in-cheek; angels are divided on issues of soteriology between Calvinists and Arminians
The angel decreed that Christ’s work of redemption was a sure thing, not a probability; Jesus would not only be able to accomplish salvation for the elect, but it is certain that He would. This can be said because redemption was predestined by God’s eternal decree. “She will bear a son, and you shall... Continue Reading
The Man Who Waited for Christmas
Simeon was an older Jew that Scripture says waited for the coming Messiah
Simeon did not see this Child from heaven as simply a means to an end, but as the end and object of all faith. That explains the joy and satisfaction that he expressed when cradling Jesus. At Christmas we have an opportunity to be just as joyful and satisfied as Simeon was; just like him,... Continue Reading
Erskine College and Seminary denied reaffirmation of accreditation
SACS cites school for twelve (an extremely high number) of violations and places school in 'warning' status for the next nine months
According to e-mails and other communications from President David Norman, the items cited by SACS are rather insignificant and easily corrected by the September 2013 deadline. Below is the evaluation of Erskine College and Seminary by SACS (December 10, 2012): The Commission denied reaffirmation, continued accreditation, and placed . . . on Warning: Erskine... Continue Reading
A Particular Sort of Depravity
It seems increasingly clear that we face a crisis of masculinity in American culture today.
In short, the depravity evident at Columbine, and Aurora, and Newtown is of a particular sort involving distorted masculinity and the misuse of power. There is tremendous truth in St. Augustine’s contention that evil is not a thing in itself but rather the distortion and misdirection of God’s good creation. The tragic shootings and... Continue Reading