The Enduring Goodness of Marriage: What the Gospel Has to Say to a Culture of Cohabitation
If we are honest marriage brings with it incredible blessings, but also incredible pain.
The Enlightenment privatized marriage, taking it out of the public sphere, and redefined its purpose as individual gratification, not any ‘broader good’ such as reflecting God’s nature, producing character, or raising children. (28) Marriage used to be a public institution for the common good, and now it is a private arrangement for the satisfaction of... Continue Reading
Book Review—J. C. Ryle: Prepared to Stand Alone, by Iain Murray
Of all things, Ryle was first and foremost an evangelical.
Murray notes, “The gospel itself was ever the most important part of whatever he spoke or wrote, and the gospel meant the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ.” Richly rooted and built up in Puritan theology, Ryle desired to present biblical content in a clear and accessible manner, especially the doctrines of grace.... Continue Reading
Blessed: The Prosperity Gospel in (and Beyond) America
I can’t help but wonder whether history will show that America’s most prominent export in this period of history was not goods or services at all, but a movement most commonly called the prosperity gospel.
“The movement goes by different names,” says Kate Bowler, “ranging from the slightly pejorative (Health and Wealth or Name It and Claim It) to the vaguely descriptive (Faith or Word of Faith) to the blunt shorthand, the prosperity gospel. Though it is hard to describe, it is easy to find.” This movement that began in... Continue Reading
Born without Arms (An Interview with Daniel Ritchie)
I never thought of myself as an author, but I have known for a long time that God had given me a unique story to tell with me being born without arms.
As I rooted my life in Christ, I started to focus less on the words of men to define my worth and to look to God’s words. My perception on my own worth was put on a rock solid foundation knowing that I was an adopted son of God. His love and purpose for me... Continue Reading
Review: Israel, Church, and the Gentiles in the Gospel of Matthew
Konradt provides a reconsideration of Matthew in order to determine the correct motive for the transition from Jesus’ exclusive ministry to Israel in 10:5–6 to the nations in 28:19.
Overall, I would recommend this book to pastors and scholars who plan on preaching or teaching through the gospel of Matthew. Whether you agree with all of Konradt’s conclusions or not (I, for one, did not), he forces you to wrestle with what exactly is the unifying theme and purpose of Matthew’s gospel as well... Continue Reading
Liberalism Failed Because It Collapsed Under Its Own Weight
Liberalism’s failures are directly related to its successes.
How and why is liberalism failing? Primarily because liberalism, as a centuries-old political philosophy, is rooted in a defective understanding of the human person. Liberalism ignores the person’s rootedness in local communities and their myriad customs and influences, replacing that rootedness with an inordinate allegiance to state and market, the instruments of our supposed liberation.... Continue Reading
The Best Defense Is a Good Offense: C.S. Lewis’s Abolition of Man
Lewis’s warnings about the consequences of jettisoning natural law remain as trenchant today as they were when delivered during the Second World War.
Lewis’s point in his concluding chapter is that those who have put human nature on the dissecting table to be manipulated will no longer be guided by the morality that is, or was thought to be, inextricably connected to it. Lewis knew that some, perhaps many, will welcome this brave new world. Others of us... Continue Reading
Liberalism Failed Because It Collapsed Under Its Own Weight
Liberalism, as a centuries-old political philosophy, is rooted in a defective understanding of the human person.
Liberalism heralds individual liberties but, ironically, effectively facilitates disempowerment, fragmentation, and resentment. As the state expands—in order to protect and advance individual liberty—its depersonalized bureaucracy and globalized market become increasingly powerful forces to which isolated individuals must submit. Today’s populist and nationalist movements suggest that liberalism is failing in certain significant respects—not because it has... Continue Reading
How the New Corporate Elite Sold Same-Sex Marriage to the American Public
Darel Paul’s meticulous, courageous account of how the elites brought same-sex marriage to America deserves to be read by all who would understand where we are and where we're going.
It took forty years for elites to bring us the normalization of homosexuality and acceptance for same-sex marriage. They are using the same techniques now to achieve transgender rights, and success may be on the horizon. A country in which such serious erosions of fundamentally important institutions happen so swiftly may be a country celebrating... Continue Reading
3 Takeaways from New Research on Americans and the Bible
Every year, Barna and the American Bible Society release new research on behaviors and beliefs about the Bible among U.S. adults.
Perhaps the most startling takeaway in the research is that readers of the Bible overwhelmingly prefer a printed Bible (91%), even though they access the Bible in other formats (online, smart phone, and apps). Clearly, electronic forms of Bible reading are on the rise, but the arrival of the digital age has not changed Americans’... Continue Reading
