“Islamists control nearly every major American Muslim organization, as well as a large and perhaps growing majority of mosques, weekly newspapers, and communal organizations. As a result, they dominate the discourse. In contrast to countries like Turkey and Egypt, where a lively debate takes place between moderates and Islamists, the former hardly have a voice …
Morals Are Not Always Proper
“Modern Christians should not mistake their post-Victorian sense of propriety for moral purity” (Gene Edward Veith, Reading Between the Lines, p. 38).
Will That Be On the Test?
“‘Ah,’ we say, ‘but our doctrinal hobby horse isn’t in view in Romans 14. The Greek indicates . . . ‘ Whatever the secondary issue we use to harass our brothers may be, we must guard our hearts. ‘But why dost thou judge thy brother? or why dost thou set at nought thy brother? for …
A Second Battle of Tours (7)
Introduction: The Bible teaches us that God’s ways are not ours, and that God’s wisdom is folly to man, and that man’s wisdom is folly to God. Worldliness is therefore not to be thought of as shot full of vice (although in the long run it always is), but rather as something shot full of …
Winning Through Intimidation
“During the decade since 1989, militant Islamic efforts to silence those who critique Islam or Muslims have had impressive results . . . More impressive than these acts of terror, however, has been the way Islamists have changed the discussion of Islam around the world. In Muslim-majority countries, it has become virtually impossible to comment …
Holy, not Evil
“Sexuality is for the private intimacy of marriage, not for public eyes. Striptease shows are obscene, not because nudity is wrong but because nudity is private. To pay a woman to take her clothes off in front of crowds of ogling men is to violate her in a very brutal way. Public sex is obscene, …
Some Other Food Group
“We must consequently know our Bibles, because sometimes doctrinal issues of the greatest moment can hang on apparently trivial matters. Paul faced down Peter at Antioch because the gospel was at stake in Peter’s avoidance of certain dinner companions. Other issues are apparently trivial because they are, well, trivial. When forbidden to destroy our brother …
Vantage Theology
For creatures, there is no such thing as a “view from everywhere,” and this is especially true in theology. One of the problems that happens with people who do decretal theology all the time is that this can be forgotten, and we begin to assume that we do have the ultimate vantage point for our …
Future Plans
The next critical book on Federal Vision, due out soon, is By Faith Alone, edited by Gary Johnson and Guy Waters. I have it on order, but there has apparently been some delay according to the good folks at Amazon. The current plan is to review it thoroughly in this space. By “review it” I …
The Napkin Project
A few months back I mentioned here some fun news about a short story that my son Nate got published in The Chattahoochee Review. Here is that story again. But something else shook loose as a result of that venture that has also been kind of fun, and worth mentioning here. A new editor at …