I’m a sucker for annual predictions. It’s an opportunity to suggest preposterous theories grounded in absolutely zero fact or logic. It’s a time to look ahead with unquestionable positivity and make some bold bets on what the future has in store. If nothing comes true … no harm done.   I’m a sucker for annual... Continue Reading

Rather than risk another lawsuit, the Odgaards stopped hosting weddings altogether. But the income loss, plus a 50-percent drop in customers’ enjoying the location’s bistro and art services, made the business unsustainable. They closed up shop in July 2015. LGBT advocates celebrated the closure as a victory. To the surprise of critics, the building reopened... Continue Reading

“God’s love for his unfaithful people is demonstrated concretely in Hosea’s marriage to an unfaithful woman (1:2). Hosea eventually divorces her for her unfaithfulness, signifying God’s judgment on Israel (2:1–3). Though scholars debate whether Hosea took back his unfaithful wife in chapter 3, I believe he did, in order to portend Israel’s restoration.”   Most... Continue Reading

Even if you don’t believe in the sanctity of life, and the authority God has over deciding when life begins and ends, consider the practical application of euthanasia:  If not God, or “fate,” or Father Time; who else gets to decide when you die?  Who decides when your vitality is over?  Who decides when you... Continue Reading

A member of the church told VOL that the inaction and complicity of Bishop White leading to the resignation of Fr. Erdman was a betrayal of trust of the Episcopal Church. The Church seemed to foster an atmosphere of theological diversity, but only if members went in the direction Bishop White wanted to go. The... Continue Reading

My time in the PCA church definitely shaped the way I saw and thought about ministry. It was a sacrifice for us to be there (not the least of which was the loss of worship music which I was so used to in the black church). But my father became ordained in the PCA church,... Continue Reading

John Anderson, a Sheltering Wings board member, remembered Riddering as “a wonderful, godly man” who managed to find spare time to help teams of volunteers from other organizations who dug wells for local residents. “During the Ebola crisis, when it was hard to find people to do the digging, Mike would go out and join... Continue Reading

Citing a quotation attributed to former French President Charles de Gaulle, Scalia said “‘God takes care of little children, drunkards and the United States of America.'” Scalia then added, “I think that’s true. God has been very good to us. One of the reasons God has been good to us is that we have done... Continue Reading

Someone in the media who can get near Mrs. Clinton should ask if she’s willing to repudiate Margaret Sanger and her organization’s highly questionable and objectionable history in everything from race to the literal business of baby parts. Now that Clinton has received Planned Parenthood’s endorsement, and promises to have its “back,” it seems a... Continue Reading

But the relationship soured in Nov. 2014 when city councilmember Alex Wan, an LGBT advocate, showed Reed a half-page portion of Cochran’s book, Who Told You That You Were Naked? The passage, which criticized homosexual sex, was part of a six-page section that denounced extramarital and premarital sexual activity as well, labeling all sex outside... Continue Reading