Just a quick thought on the aftermath of the Abramoff scandal. The scandal has, of course, the squeaky clean types bellowing for Reform. And they have the moral high ground currently, and all the sound bytes. But almost no one points out that our current woes are caused by the last round of Reform. When …
The Armory of Slander
Minister: Lift up your hearts! Congregation: We lift them up to the Lord! Hear my voice, oh my God, Hear my prayer to You now. Preserve me from fear, From fear of my enemy. Hide me away from the secret counsels of the wicked, From the plotting and insurrection Of those who love to work …
The Table and the Ball
Once there was a table, and on the surface of the table there was a ball. For a long time they both just sat there, but one day the ball—who had been taking some philosophy classes at the local community college—spoke to the table. “I don’t know why you think you’re so important,” said the …
Do Not Shrink Back
You have not come to a mountain that can be touched. You have not come to a mountain covered with smoke and fire, and with a backdrop of gun-metal thunderheads. You have not come to a mountain that is cordoned off, so that if even an animal strays onto the holy ground it must be …
The Creep Who Shoots Dogs
One of the reasons why pious sentiment is so popular is that it makes a great substitute for obedience. And while we are disobeying what the Bible says to do, the disobedience can be carried off in the glow of self-approprobation. The Bible has some very clear instructions about the handling of charges against someone, …
Pomo and Puddleglum
One of my daughters just pointed out a helpful illustration from Narnia on the postmodernism business. A reasonable question that many might ask about the postmodernism jag that I am currently on is, “Why all the fuss?” Okay, already. We agree, for the most part. Why can’t we just keep our distinctives and have a …
On The Last Word
I just had the pleasure of finishing a new book from N.T. Wright on the authority of Scripture. In many important ways, it was fantastic, and far better than his earlier article on the same subject. The book is called The Last Word, and is subtitled “Beyond the Bible Wars to a New Understanding of …
Lying, Warfare, and Peace
Deception is an act of war, and the same distinctions that we make between murder and killing must be made between lying and lawful deception. The sinful forms of deception are those which introduce a state of civil war and animosity into communities that ought to be at peace. The ninth commandment is primarily about …
Charges and Lies
When Christians collide with each other, and get themselves into what I have called “sociological events,” one of the first things to disappear is a sense of measured justice. When this happens, it is not the case that there is no sense of justice, because all the principles of justice can still be articulated, appealed …
Stricter Sanctions
We have now come to the first great warning of this epistle. As the force of the warning makes clear, this is not an exercise in academic theology. True theology is never merely academic. How we think is important to how we live, but how we think must never be taken as a substitute for …