Don’t Adopt! Buy a cat instead (just be sure to get it declawed!)
If you want your “dream baby,” do not adopt or foster a child: buy a cat and make-believe. Adopting an orphan isn’t ordering a consumer item or buying a pet. Such a mindset hurts the child, and countless other children and families. Adoption is about taking on risk as cross-bearing love. For years, I’ve called... Continue Reading
Ancient Texts and their Modern Appropriation; Creation and Confessional hermeneutic
This disjunction of Scripture and science runs the risk of gutting our doctrine of common grace–the truth that God has graciously equipped us with minds to think and to explore his world. When the antithesis effaces common grace we are, to modify William Butler Yeats’ memorable phrase, “slouching toward Fundamentalism.” There have been a number... Continue Reading
Devouring Life (aka, Life’s a Peach)
Little is more oppressive and unchristian than people and groups that dictate out of their own fears, and who define and value people by their own insecurities. It robs God of the joy He receives when we take in all that He has created, and deprives people of experiencing the majesty of His rule and... Continue Reading
Egypt Christians Facing ‘Early Church’ Persecution, Says Reformed Theologian; Could Result in a Stronger Christian Representation
“Coptic Christians and other believers in the Middle East must cling to the powerful truth of the risen Christ in these days as they possibly face the same persecution that Mark wrote about 2000 years ago,” wrote Dr. Michael A. Milton, chancellor-elect of Reformed Theological Seminary According to Milton, St. Mark spread Christianity to Egypt... Continue Reading
Don’t know much about art, but I know it when I see it; a response to Anyabwile
I am tempted to say `I don’t know how to define art, but I know it when I see it.’ Except, other than understanding that Thomas Kinkade is not art, that statement would not be true. I am told Jackson Pollock is art but that, as they say, is clearly above my paygrade. Over at... Continue Reading
Is The Gospel-Centered Movement Rearing Off Course?
Twenty years from now, when looking back on the “return to the Gospel” movement that is currently gaining speed throughout the world today, what are some things that have gone a little off course? That’s the question that three pastors and authors, J.D. Greear, Trevin Wax and Greg Gilbert, asked themselves on The Gospel Coalition... Continue Reading
Three Pastoral Mistakes I’ve Made and Seen
Ministry mistakes I’ve made and seen: 1) Buying into the greener pastures myth 2) Going for the silver bullet 3) Wishing you were someone else I’m not the oldest kid on the block but I’m sadly realizing I’m not the youngest either at age 48. My ministry experience to date has been somewhat varied. Prior... Continue Reading
My Take: This Evangelical says Mormonism Isn’t a Cult
Those of us who have made the effort to engage Mormons in friendly and sustained give-and-take conversations have come to see them as good citizens whose life of faith often exhibits qualities that are worthy of the Christian label, even as we continue to engage in friendly arguments with them about crucial theological issues. Some... Continue Reading
None so prejudiced as those who think they have no prejudice
One of the great Scottish myths is that for four hundred years Calvinism dominated the life of Scotland and that this explains all our problems from endemic national alcoholism to our failure to produce great epic drama. Everything is the fault of John Knox. A wise Roman Catholic once remarked that there is no one... Continue Reading
Elders take vows too – serious and binding ones.
Elders are to…protect…the minister from hypercritical members of the congregation. This is not because the minister is above criticism but because he is always vulnerable to discouragement at the hands of cranks with assorted axes to grind. Elders should function as his bodyguard, weeding out unfair criticism and rebuking crackpots. Last week, I posted a... Continue Reading