I noticed this post on “paper-cut martyrs” the other day, and wanted to say something about it. Go take a look; I’ll wait. Make sure you come back though — this is important. Jamie Arpin-Ricci argues that, “almost without exception,” conservative North American Christians who point out any mistreatment that is happening to them have …
Remembering the Lord Your God
Introduction We are looking at a passage this morning which is familiar for many reasons. The Lord Jesus quotes it when He tells us what the greatest commandment in all Scripture is (Luke 10:27). This passage contains the great Shema, recited by the Jews constantly—“Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God is one Lord.” This …
The Way Liberace Used to Walk
In the previous post, the one where I mentioned that homosexual acts ought eventually to be prohibited by law, one commenter asked about my “constant hammering” on this issue. Why do I keep going on about it? Why don’t I write about sins my parishioners might actually be committing? Well, actually I do that too …
Counterfactuals, Convulsion, and Conquest
A friend asks how the “mere Christendom” I envision would handle off-budget (i.e. private) gay “marriages.” Would they be illegal? A related issue, given that this mere Christendom is a ways off, has to do with what we should be looking for in the mean time. Evangelical Christians in North America do not have their …
Staggering into the Truth
“This was not so much a penetrating flash of insight as it was — to use a term popular with clinical psychologists who have studied this kind of thing — a lucky guess. A blind squirrel finds a nut every once in a while” (Evangellyfish, p. 160).
Rendering the Right Thing
“And keep in mind that if are not being diligent to render what God says to render, then it will probably be a matter of mere days before you are rendering the opposite. By this I mean caustic acid from husbands instead of warm affection, and castrating disrespect from wives instead of honor” (For a …
And What About Chauncey . . .?
In the comments section of my recent post N.T. Wright Rides a Pale Horse, Tom Wright was kind enough to come by and leave a contribution to the discussion. Just to say — thanks for the free publicity, Doug, but too bad I simply don’t recognise myself either in your portrait or in some of …
But I Don’t Want Internal Safeguards . . .
Once we established the supposedly constitutional right to abortion, grounded in the right to privacy, it was just a matter of time before the genuine right to privacy came apart in our hands. A nation that does not know what privacy is can hardly protect it. You can’t guard what you can’t define. The NSA …
Not Seeking Our Own
“At thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore” (Ps. 16: 11) The Basket Case Chronicles #118 “Let no man seek his own, but every man another’s wealth. Whatsoever is sold in the shambles, that eat, asking no question for conscience sake: For the earth is the Lord’s, and the fulness thereof” (1 Cor. 10:24-26). …
N.T. Wright Rides a Pale Horse
Peter Enns asks N.T. Wright a question here, and I would like to kibbitz about the answer for a little bit. After I weary of that, I shall lay myself down to rest a while, and then rise up again for some fresh kibbitzing in the morning. In his answer, Wright says that in America …