“Life and art are too complex to lay down legalistic rules. But that does not mean that there are no norms. Although one cannot define the wrong kind of seductiveness or the right kind of prettiness and the attractiveness of a woman by the length of her skirt or the depth of the décolleté, nevertheless …
And We Are At Midmorning, At the Latest
“The gospel will be preached in true spiritual authority until the end of the world. The authority of true preaching did not diminish after the apostolic era. The ability to write Scripture diminished — indeed, it ceased when the last apostle died. But the death of the apostles and the closure of the canon of …
Yeah, the Bible Might Say That, But We Have the Votes
“Men are naturally subject to sloth, and may not this principle [of coercion in conscience] suggest such a temptation as this? Why need we take care or pains to search into truths, to be able to convince gainsayers, to carry things with strength of Scripture and reason, seeing we have power to compel men to …
Gifts and Friends
“At thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore” (Ps. 16: 11) Growing Dominion, Part 108 “Many will entreat the favour of the prince: and every man is a friend to him that giveth gifts” (Prov. 19:6). Like the previous passage we treated (v. 4), this one can be taken in two senses as well. …
Latest Film Project
On a trip to New York last year, my son Nate and his friend Aaron found themselves, through a series of circumstances that would be hard to explain, walking through the set of a film being shot. When the film in question — The Devil Wears Prada — was recently released to video, it was …
Those Who Are Bread Should Get Bread
As we have said before, your baptized children are welcome to this Table. All who are bread get bread. But we have also explained it with several provisos. Young children should have the Supper explained to them by their parents in each observance of the Supper, and they should be able to attend to what …
False Reproach As Glory
Peter tells us that we are happy when we are reproached for the name and sake of Jesus Christ. He tells us that we should not be astonished when we are confronted with attacks, persecutions, and slanders. But more than this, Peter states, in line with what the Scriptures tell us elsewhere, that it is …
The Source of the Problem
“Islam does not countenance accepting part of the Koran and disdaining the rest. Islamic authorities insist that all of the Koran is God’s word settled in heaven from eternity past — abrogations, hell-threats and war verses included. Thus the Koran itself is a de facto crowbar radical Muslims can use to leverage moderate Muslims away …
Reformational Rap
“The Psalms, which Luther loved so much as peerles barometers of the human heart, leapt out of his translations in sparkling, associative, direct, venacular language, as urgent in their rhythms as rap, his reverent irreverence rediscovering them as the wild poetry and lyrical yearning which they are” (Matheson, The Imaginative World of the Reformation, pp. …
Not Silly Or Shallow
“As art is tied to reality in this way, there is a place to speak about truth in art. Does it do justice to what it represents? Does it do this in a positive way? Does it show the depth and complexity of what it is talking about? Art may be simple; it must be …