“Today,” Hiestand and Wilson write, “we find ourselves in a context where to be a theologian is, almost by definition, to be a professor in the academy. And to be a pastor is, almost by definition, to be anything but a theologian.” Most pastors act as “passive conveyors of insights from theologians to laity. A... Continue Reading

“For those still clinging to their pro-choice flag, willingly ignorant of science, please know: Your moral relativism is nauseating in its consequences, annoying in its logical fallacies, and disgusting in its devastating effects on political and cultural debate.”   For all their fervor, the center-left media still struggle to condemn Planned Parenthood for selling baby’s... Continue Reading

“Same-sex marriage became the law of the land without anything close to proportional demand by homosexuals to actually marry someone of the same sex. There are likely many more polyamorists who would be interested in getting married than same-sex couples. Indeed, when polygamy is legalized (an issue we’ll consider in a future article), the number will... Continue Reading

“Name it; Claim it!” is their mantra. And the number of goodies God doles out—whether in the form of a lucrative job, an increased bank account or even physical healing—depends entirely upon your faith (sometimes shown by how much you’re willing to give first).   Earlier this year, the Internet erupted over the fact that... Continue Reading

“Millions of Christian men, baby boomers they call us, are facing the last 1/4 of life and if we’re not careful, we’ll end up like so many, simply killing time pleasantly in warm places.”   A decade ago, Bob Buford wrote a wonderful book called Half-time.   In it, he begs Christian men and women approaching... Continue Reading

The following is an excerpt regarding the ideal 19th century woman, which historians have called the cult of true womanhood. If you read it in the light of the ongoing debate about gender roles, it has a familiar ring to it. Of particular note, this ideal could not be achieved by poor women or slaves.... Continue Reading

Suffering is a time during which we experience the weight of the curse in heavier-than-usual ways. As people are pulled and pressed under previously unexperienced pains, people often say and do things spiritually uncharacteristic of how you’ve known them. And as much as we’d like the Spirit to ooze out of suffering’s squeeze, sometime it just... Continue Reading

I realize that not every pastor’s wife has children or the prospect of grandchildren. Not every pastor’s wife has offspring who are following the Lord and bringing her joy. I know this can be painful. Although God is not blessing you in the same way that He is blessing me (and vice versa), He is blessing you... Continue Reading

A videotaped massacre can easily be a kind of pornography, turning human beings—made in the image of God–into spectacles, all while giving the illusion of a safe distance between their suffering and the audience. We can justify watching this as “being informed,” but there is a very thin line these days between news and entertainment.... Continue Reading

But in the larger secular culture, the big question is whether adultery really matters or not. Marriage and monogamy have been subverted from an array of cultural forces. Moral revolutionaries declared war on monogamy, declaring it to be unrealistic, patriarchal, repressive, and antiquated. Popular culture and entertainment glorified virtually any experiment in sexual gratification and... Continue Reading