The first time Seamus came up to our house after the last big snow, he was put on the sidewalk that runs alongside our front porch. But his response was understandable. He said, “Uh oh.”
Comparisons Are Odious
Once there was a mother who always compared her two sons. The eldest was obviously her favorite, and was no secret to anyone. Her comments, particularly when she was displeased, usually came out to the advantage of her favorite, sometimes in striking ways. When she rebuked the younger, it was by wondering why he could …
Restoring Our Frame
When our first parents fell, the occasion of their grief and ours was food. Not only was it food, it was food that was good. The prohibition of the tree of knowledge of good and evil was clearly a temporary restriction. God did not create an evil, and place it in the midst of the …
Worth Checking Out
I have two daughters, Bekah and Rachel, and please allow me commend their writing to you — here and here.
Nietzsche the Fusser
Chesterton gets Nietzsche right. He does this, not necessarily as a portrait painter, but as a brilliant caricaturist. Have you ever wondered how the great caricaturists do it — drawing a nose that is three feet long, and yet you recognize the person? “And then I thought of all that was brave and proud and …
Heaving a Dead Cat
I have two random thoughts on the circus maximus that we call presidential politics. First, the pagentry of modern politics is the pagentry of a false religion. In saying this I am of course not referring to the simple process of selecting a leader. That part of it is necessary and just fine. The problem …
Pressure Testing My Footings
We got six guys to come up to our house today to shovel off our deck, and it took them about an hour. We weren’t interested in finding out just how many feet of snow it would take to kick off some unplanned renovations at our house this summer. Many thanks to the guys, and …
Auburn Avenue Statement
Auburn Avenue Presbyterian Church has made a statement on why they made the decision to leave the PCA. You can read that statement here. Since they have been adopted as a mission church of Grace Covenant Church in Nacogdoches, TX (CREC), that church also issued a statement which you can find here.
Not Ashamed
The verb “be ashamed” is the rendering of aischunomai, and it occurs five times in the New Testament. Again, sin and shame are closely related. In the parable of the unjust steward, he was ashamed to beg (Luke 16:3). Paul was not ashamed to use his authority over the Corinthians (2 Cor. 10:8). Paul did …
Courage in the Pulpit
“I must urge upon you the necessity of being cool and confident. As Sydney Smith says, ‘A great deal of talent is lost to the world for want of a little courage'” (Charles Spurgeon, Lectures to My Students, p. 150).