The personal freedom we’re sold denies any inherent connection whatsoever not only between sex and marriage, but between marriage and children. As one liberal commentator put it, for many Americans having kids is a discretionary activity, like collecting classic cars or visiting every parrot sanctuary in the world. Unfortunately, “many Americans” includes Christians. The indissoluble... Continue Reading

Before and beyond the Christmas season, let us surrender any primary allegiances to contrived cultural action. Instead, we have a far greater task: to draw from and rest in the joy of God in Christ in all that we do. Let it flow and overflow in and throughout our daily lives, all while remembering that the distinct difference of the... Continue Reading

“When self-improvement is our motivation, New Year’s resolutions become less about developing long-term disciplines and more about catering to whims that shift like the wind. Instead of trying to fulfill New Year’s resolutions for the sake of self-improvement, our motivation to be disciplined should come from recognizing we’re God’s image-bearers.”   You’re probably wondering why... Continue Reading

Unless we are willing to say that “an evangelical is anyone who says he or she is an evangelical or says he or she has been ‘born again,’” then we have to admit that we are talking more about a label of self-designation than an actual movement or network, much less a reflection of theological... Continue Reading

“With no vision for the joy of giving and of investing in eternity, they can’t see that God’s purpose for prospering them is not so they can live in luxury, but so they can help others, support their churches, aid the poor, and reach the lost with the gospel.”   The next generation is growing... Continue Reading

To move from the fact that gender roles exhibit elements of social construction to regarding the body as of no real significance to gender identity is huge leap, and one that must be challenged. It is predicated upon highly dubious, if mysteriously popular, philosophical assumptions that effectively dissolve nature into culture as if these two... Continue Reading

But that’s not what this policy debate is about. In the United States of America, people who identify as LGBT are free to live as they want. But SOGI laws, including Fairness for All, are not about freedom—they are about coercion. SOGI and Fairness for All are about forcing all Americans to embrace—and live out—certain beliefs... Continue Reading

One can infer from Hodge’s interpretation of the Westminster Confession that the recent wars in the Middle East were neither just nor necessary. Rather than being defensive wars as a response to an actual aggression that constituted a real threat to our national life, they were preemptive wars that tried to prevent the threat before... Continue Reading

If ‘believer’ or ‘Christian’ or ‘follower of Jesus’ is your genuine identity, then what’s that negative adjective supposed to do? The one that says ‘giving in?’ It says, ‘I’m in the Lord’s battle, fighting on his side always, but way too often I lose.’ That revealing adjective should be a humble confession of that something... Continue Reading

The name itself may be derived from two words which mean “victory” (nikos) and “people” (laos), thus the idea of their consumption or overpowering of the people. They were evidently licentious and antinomian and advocated an unhealthy compromise with pagan society and the idolatrous culture of Ephesus.   Last week I wrote about the Montanists... Continue Reading