“Gladness and gravity should be woven together in the life and preaching of a pastor in such a way as to sober the careless soul and sweeten the burdens of the saints” (Piper, The Supremacy of God in Preaching, p. 52).
Dinner for Two at Angelo’s
One of the questions that has arisen here is, basically, how could this happen? How could so much of Real Marriage be so good in so many ways, and yet whiff on something like this? In polemical discourse there is something called swallowing the reductio. Your opponent slyly suggests to you that he who says …
10 Reasons Repeated
A guest appearance elsewhere . . .
Sexual Dirt and a Gospel Backhoe
Having set the stage with my preliminaries, let me now engage with Mark and Grace Driscoll’s book, Real Marriage. Let me begin by saying that it is a very fine book over all. Before getting to the sections that call out for more discussion and some yeahbuts, let me mention first why this book is …
Preliminary Thoughts On “Real Marriage,” Part Dos
Before interacting with the controversial parts of Real Marriage, I want to set down a few more additional and preliminary thoughts. I am not addressing anyone in particular yet. But because I am going to be engaged in close pastoral reasoning in a very sensitive area, I want to reveal some of my foundational operating …
Some Preliminary Thoughts On “Real Marriage”
Lord willing, as time goes by, I will be interacting more with Real Marriage by Mark and Grace Driscoll. But here are some of my basic assumptions going into the discussion. 1. Words written are easier to interact with (and be concerned about) than words unwritten. Pastors like Driscoll frequently get in trouble for things …
Bungee Cords and Baling Wire
Let us talk about a states’ rights approach to the baseline sexual issues — by which I mean issues like abortion and same-sex marriage. This issue has been brought to the fore by Ron Paul’s constitutionalist approach to tackling such problems. Paul believes — and he is right — that the Constitution permits states to …
The God of Brinksmanship
INTRODUCTION:The set-up for the battle of Mt. Gilboa had provoked Saul to seek out the witch of Endor. With that episode done, we come now to a fork in the road. Chapter 30 describes David’s victorious battle against the Amalekites, and chapter 31 describes Saul’s disastrous defeat at the hands of the Philistines. The book …
Vindication From the Presence
In a world full of bumps and conflicts, we all want vindication. This is entirely natural, but we have to remember that the people who were entirely in the wrong want vindication as much as anybody else. In fact, they frequently want vindication much more than the innocent or wronged parties do. They demand it, …
A Two-Fold Virtue
The principle of new life is given instantaneously. There is no middle ground between death and life. Once a man is regenerated, he is no longer dead in his sins. Until he is quickened, he is entirely dead. There is no gradation between death and life. This is why the Scripture teach us plainly that …