According to Luke 7:34, “The Son of Man [came] … drinking.” As we saw in our previous post, the text interpreted in context indicates that Jesus was a social drinker. That is, Jesus used alcoholic beverages in moderation, and he sometimes drank in public. What does this mean for us today? How does the question... Continue Reading

Was Jesus a social drinker? Many of us approach a question like this with strong feelings, opinions, and convictions. Some of us have come from families in which we’ve witnessed loved ones lose their jobs, destroy their marriages, and ruin their health because of alcohol abuse. Moreover, some of us have come from churches that... Continue Reading

Which means that wooden-headedness transcends time, place, and partisanship, and further that if “eating crow” means being forced to acknowledge one’s own errors, then that repulsive bird should replace bean soup on the Senate’s famed menu, at least until members of both parties in each chamber acknowledge that they have often marched on the road... Continue Reading

But it’s at the end of the story, at Little Red’s shrill squawking: You didn’t help me plant the wheat! You didn’t help me grind the grain! when I’m most ashamed to find that chicken roosting in my coop. I am Little Red, mentally pecking at the people who come to the party and skip... Continue Reading

There is an ad appearing on one of our city’s electronic billboard—it provocatively asks: HOW HAS CHRISTIANITY FAILED YOU? It then invites people to send in their stories. When I am stuck in traffic and have to watch this ad come up three or four times, I want to shout—“sure, Christians fail, churches fail.” That’s... Continue Reading

In response to my post last week on conversions to Roman Catholicism, a number have asked me what I consider to be the reasons for such. I can only give my own limited take on this matter but here, in no particular order, are some of the reasons I have noted which converts have cited:... Continue Reading

Certainly not everyone who disagrees with Adamic merit is guilty of all the errors above, but some have fallen into such errors. This should lead us to deal very carefully with these issues and to be on guard when we hear someone denying Adamic merit. This is not an issue to be swept under the... Continue Reading

Tax time is upon us. Opinions concerning taxation range from Coolidge’s estimation that “Collecting more taxes than is absolutely necessary is legalized robbery;” to FDR’s remark that “Taxes, after all, are dues that we pay for the privileges of membership in an organized society.” Will Rogers said, “The income tax has made more liars out... Continue Reading

Therefore, we cannot dismiss the past nor should we live in the past. The church must learn from the past yet avoid becoming a museum of the past. We must live in the present but not accommodate the present or simply seek to be “trendy.” Finally, we must, by God’s grace seek to change but... Continue Reading

A big God requires that we think big. Perhaps the reason our churches aren’t thriving is because we haven’t thought big enough? Right? So, we set big goals for ourselves and our places of ministry, our churches. BHAG—Big Hairy Audacious Goals—is the current battle cry from a couple of years ago. Big Hairy Audacious Goals... Continue Reading