“Those of us who do not hunger for such extreme stimulation can still find plenty of entertainment in the endless shopping malls, restaurants, fitness clubs, tennis clubs, golf courses, gambling casinos, porn shops, strip clubs, movie theaters and late night television. This is the world of the big M’s: the Mall, McDonald’s and MTV” (Richard …
Adversarial Fathers
When a son is out of control, this is because the parents have often made the mistake of slipping into an adversarial role, instead of what they ought to be occupying, which is a watchful and parental role. The first unfortunate step in becoming an adversary to your child is that of taking it personally. …
Amos for Americans
The sermon here comes to the conclusion of Amos, at least with regard to going through it passage by passage. Next week we are going to be looking at the book as a whole, and then after some applications for a week or two — call it Amos for Americans.
You’re So Vain . . . No, Not You
Okay, so here we go. I have posted the first chapter of Evangellyfish here. I hope, as circumstances allow, to post a new chapter every Monday until I run out of them. Now the book is already written, and so before I post a new chapter, all I need to do is a little bit …
How Food Catholics Differ Among Themselves
“Finally, my prejudices . . . I am also against margarine, ‘prepared’ foods, broiled grapefruit, marshmallow sweet potatoes, and whipped cream in pressurized cans. On the other hand, I am wild about peanut butter and canned fruit cocktail (even the kind that tastes like the can). I will eat as much process cheese as I …
The Devil and Murder
The word anthropoktonos means murderer, and is used three times in the New Testament, with all uses being by the apostle John. Interestingly, this appears to be the fundamental sin that the devil is charged with. The first use is from John 8:44. “Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your …
A Little Reformational Cheer
“Let not this light be only that of knowledge, but seek for the light of joy and cheerfulness. There is power in a happy ministry. A lugubrious face, a mournful voice, a languor of manner, — none of these things commend us to our hearers; especially do they fail to attract the young. Certain strange …
Calling Covenant Fathers
“Today, the whole trend is against authority, against maleness, against Christianity, against covenant, against law. You have to find the strength that’s much greater than your own if you will be a covenant father, but it remains the need of the hour” (Steve Schlissel, Christian Culture in a Multicultural Age, p. 156).
Ananias and Sapphira Must Have Been Liberals
One of the constant refrains that provide the background noise to our contemporary political debates is the idea, oft repeated, that liberals are open-hearted, generous, ready to share, while conservatives are pinched souls, close-fisted, and skinflinty. The problem is that we have a lot of data on this, and the data shows, in remarkably broad …
The Corporations Are Way Ahead of You
I mentioned in an earlier post that one of the things needed in our discussions about contemporary foodism is more careful attention to basic logic. Related to this is the careless use of certain terms that are not defined as they ought to be, and are not used consistently thereafter. Whenever we are beat up …