Dear visionaries, Susannah quotes me: “You all are in a hopeless bind here.” And then she says that the bind is only hopeless if their goal is to establish a single standard for everyone that satisfies me. She goes on to add that this goal isn’t on most people’s agenda. And to this I say: …
Epistemic Relief
Morning, visionaries, The remarkable thing about relativism is that, for all the advertising hype, it really isn’t that elastic. It never stretches very far, and only stretches to the left. Jim tells Timothy to keep his “simple minded insults against women” to himself. Timothy’s attitude is apparently the “real obscenity.” Really? There is such a …
Creeds and the Voice of Authority
“A return to medieval thinking is a return to creedal thinking–and not just limited to those symbols recognized as formal creeds. A return to a creedal mind will come to see, gladly, the implicit creeds which shape our expressions of faith. But the modern evangelical church does not want this voice of authority. The modern …
Bush and the Lie
Liberals are fond of calling the president a liar, which is just one of the things that makes our vibrant democracy such a monkey house. The only standard they have for measuring the truth is (apparently) the level of decibels. Lying at the top of one’s lungs is their idea of speaking the truth to …
The Devil’s Dictionary
When we consider the question of how we can know the truth, know what is lovely, and know what is good, we frequently neglect to address the more fundamental issue, which is the nature of the knowers. We assume certain things about the problem of knowledge, and this drives the solutions we come up with. …
Foundations of Marriage IX
Introduction: This week we will be addressing masculinity, and how men are different from women. Next week, the topic will be femininity, and how women are different from men. The central concern here is not biology (male and female), but the broader question of masculinity and femininity. The Text: “But I would have you know, …
Church Authority
“Whenever men abandon that Word, they frequently want the Church to speak authoritatively in her own voice, supplanting the Word with the traditions of men. But this does not make Church authority suspect, for when the Church is governed by the authority of the Word, the Church speaks authoritatively as well . . . but …
Savior and Healer
“At thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore” (Ps. 16: 11) Growing Dominion, Part 30 As we make applications of biblical principles, one of the primary places we should make application is in the realm of health. In Scripture, the word for savior and healer are the same word. A central part of Christ’s …
The Most Important Creed
“But he may continue to protest. He does not believe in creeds because he does believe in the Bible–the Bible only. Isn’t this the classical Protestant doctrine of sola Scriptura? Not exactly. There is no refuge from the necessity of creeds. When a man opens his Bible, the first thing he encounters–the table of contents–is …
Arguing With God/Psalm 30
In this psalm we find another inspiring pattern for prayer—and it is the kind of prayer that can be offered up by a sinner. David offers up a petition here, and the need for the petition was created by his own spiritual carelessness. But we serve and worship a God who forgives. “I will extol …