In the first place, I think there must have been an editorial mishap in the assigned title of Hitchens’ next chapter. It was “The Tawdriness of the Miraculous and the Decline of Hell.” The chapter is about the former, and not about the latter at all. I can only conjecture that it was at one …
They Are Stronger Than I
Minister: Lift up your hearts! Congregation: We lift them up to the Lord! I cried out to God, Aloud with my voice. I cried to the Lord, Making supplication With my voice. My complaint poured out of me, I laid before Him my troubles. When my spirit staggered, You knew the path I was on. …
Grace and the Three Gs
Martin Luther once observed that young men are tempted by girls. When they are thirty, they are tempted by gold. When they are forty, they are lured and enticed by glory and honor. And when they are sixty, they think, “What a pious fellow I have become!” We too readily confuse the natural waning of …
The Cup of Reconciliation
You hear every week in the words of institution that this cup is the cup of the new covenant in the blood of Christ. What is the blood of Christ to us? In coming weeks, we will consider a number of truths concerning, but let us begin with this. This is the blood of reconciliation. …
Some Praise for Hitchens
I live in the north part of Idaho, in the portion that looks like a rock chimney. I bring this up merely to lend credence to my next claim, which is that the lakes up here are pretty cold year round. When you are swimming, or water skiing, even in August, you are always in …
Glorifying God in Tight Spaces
Nancy has a great post on sabbath living . . . here.
The Need for Human Sacrifice
I think I will treat the next two chapters together. Chapter Seven of Hitchens’ book is on the nightmare we call the Old Testament, and Chapter Eight informs us why the evil of the New Testament surpasses that of the Old. That which is good in the Old Testament is, according to Hitchens, not unique …
Leepike Ridge
I’d like to announce the publication of Leepike Ridge, written by N.D. Wilson, known around here as Nate. In its various states of editorial development, I have read it a couple or three times, and look forward to reading it again in its final form. This book is a lot of fun. Published by Random …
Mucho Macaronic Mirabile Dictu
Chapter Six of Hitchens’ book is all about “Arguments from Design.” I have gone back and forth in my mind about how to approach this one. Should I do a slow inexorable build to the point in my last paragraph where I place the capstone of a fun quotation from this chapter, doing so with …
Ed Veith and Me
A week or two ago, you may recall we had some discussion here about a question Ed Veith had raised on his blog about my views on the penal nature of the substitutionary atonement. Well, he was doing some traveling, as was I, but we finally connected a couple days ago. We had a good …