Did the Culture of College Football Enable the Penn State Scandal?
Amid the nation’s soul-searching over the alleged child sex abuses committed by Pennsylvania State University Assistant Coach Jerry Sandusky, some have argued that the culture of college football at large state universities is a co-belligerent in the scandal. The child sex abuse charges were known about at the highest levels within Penn State. The Athletic... Continue Reading
Anarchy at the University of Kentucky
In other words, UK is about to ask the police to get involved in the regulation of “negative bias situations” (read: free speech) because of a piece of litter found outside a door. This had better be good. So let’s find out if it contained free speech or that other kind of speech (hate speech)... Continue Reading
The Tragic Lessons of Penn State — What would prevent this scandal at your school or church?
The detonation of the Penn State scandal must shake the entire nation into a new moral awareness. Any failure to report and to stop the sexual abuse of children must be made inconceivable. The moral irresponsibility that Penn State officials demonstrated in this tragedy may well be criminal. There can be no doubt that all... Continue Reading
Cultured! – Abstractions Needful, But There’s More
So I was scared when I was invited to the Stites home. Likely, as I remember, it was not on the very first dinner with the Stites family, that I boo-booed a biggie by keeping the Pork Chops serving fork at my plate. Bad move and embarrassing—and not cultured. I first started to learn something... Continue Reading
Hungry and Thirsty
I wonder if it would not promote the spiritual welfare of Christians, if every Sunday they could count on hearing the words of institution, the invitation from the Savior to those who are weary and heavy-laden, and then receive by faith the spiritual nourishment of eating and drinking the body and blood of the Lord.... Continue Reading
Spiritual Protection for Your Growing Child (or anyone else)
My observation is that many people leave the faith because (1) they are angry that God brought misery into their lives or the life of a loved one, or (2) they simply want to do things that Scripture forbids, which often has something to do with sex, and it is too hard to simultaneously persist... Continue Reading
What’s Your Ministry-Burn-Out Profile?
Get your #2 pencil and take our 8 question, highly unscientific quiz to diagnose your discouragement style—then find out what to do about it. You will find out if you match one of the following Biblical characters: Elijah, Moses, John the Baptist, or Gideon 1. Your resume highlights the following: A. I have organized Vacation... Continue Reading
Church
The church, then, consists of those whom the Lord has called out of the world into union and fellowship with Christ and into communion with each other. And, as John Calvin (citing the church father Cyprian) says, “To those to whom he is a Father, the Church must also be a mother.” In the language... Continue Reading
John Calvin and Occupy Wall Street
The claim that Calvin and OWS are kindred is precisely the kind of obfuscatory rhetoric that we don’t need from ecclesiastical representatives, whether at the congregational, denominational, or ecumenical level. “You’ve lost a good opportunity to shut up.” So said French president Nicolas Sarkozy to UK prime minister David Cameron as an instance of what... Continue Reading
The Forgotten Man
It was Charles Colson who opened my eyes to the horrible reality of imprisonment. We are “law and order” people. We want those who commit offenses to serve their time. Christians, other than Prison Fellowship, have not given much thought to what ought, and ought not, occur behind bars. We allow prisoners to be dehumanized…... Continue Reading