The divorce of liberal politics from reality is a seedbed of tyranny for its narrow program can advance only by the manipulation of language and the imposition of an agenda through raw power, be that of an oppressive majority or minority, or through the barrel of a gun. “Religious beliefs and cultural values do not... Continue Reading

Dr… taught us that the stable would not have been a barn like we use today, but most likely a cave or grotto with a gate placed in the opening to keep the animals in. These caves were common in that region, and had a variety of uses – including burial There is a difficult... Continue Reading

I’m beginning to wonder if the alternative marriage debate is not already lost. Christians do not provide a model of marriage in practice that makes a persuasive case against changing the traditional definition. American common law definitions of marriage were historically shaped by the influence of Christianity. In God’s Joust, God’s Justice: Law and Religion... Continue Reading

The real issue for religious conservatives isn’t whether they can trust Gingrich. It’s whether they can afford to be associated with him. More than any other Republican constituency, religious conservatives have good reasons to be wary of Newt Gingrich. As the leader of a right-wing insurgency in the early 1990s, he often kept their causes... Continue Reading

…the great thinkers of the early church, however, we find that they often had a different way of posing the issues than we do…They regarded both justification and sanctification as things that God gives us at the beginning of salvation, and they defined both as the righteousness that we receive when we are united to... Continue Reading

Today marks the second year of my youngest’s diagnosis of Type 1 Diabetes. I delivered this at Grace Presbyterian’s Christmas Eve Service of that year, and I’m reposting in honor of her courage and spirit. She is my hero. Philippians 2:3-11 3 Do nothing from rivalry or conceit, but in humility count others more significant... Continue Reading

John Hodge, in his What is Ecclesiastical Law as Defined by the Church Courts? wrote, “When the relation of a Stated Supply to a church is continued beyond the emergency, it is an irregularity, an evil, and is inconsistent with our polity” (p. 48). Christ Himself gave pastors and teachers to the Church to build... Continue Reading

If the Obama administration is committed to defending constitutional rights, why is it… standing “united” on speech issues with an organization trying to undercut our freedoms. Last July in Istanbul, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton co-chaired a “High-Level Meeting on Combating Religious Intolerance” with the Saudi-based Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC). Mrs. Clinton invited the... Continue Reading

I want to raise an ecclesiological question that I’ve been mulling over since I read What is the Mission of the Church? a couple of months ago To what degree are representatives of the different tendencies talking past each other because they mean different things when they use the word church? We were pleased to... Continue Reading

In the early 1900s, when the founder of the Salvation Army, William Booth, wanted to send an inspirational Christmas message to each of his workers around the world to convey what he saw as the essential message of Christmas and the core mission of Christians. The problem was that Western Union charged by the word... Continue Reading