A reader from a far place pointed out my very own howler. I take the liberty of quoting him at length. Mr. Wilson, While I am no fan of Mr. Gier, his scholarship, or his writings I feel obliged to defend him on one point. In a recent entry in your blog, you compared his …
Nations Raised
“As the gospel makes its way through a treacherous world, we have seen the righteous fall many times, and before the Lord comes again, we will see them fall again. But whenever the righteous fall, those who lament must be sons of Abraham. They must serve the God who calls those things that do not …
Root and Fruit
“Our problems are spiritual, and the solutions are the Word and sacraments. The charge was not “go ye, and elect right-of-center congresspersons.” Now certainly the gospel has an effect on all of culture, as it should. But results are not causes; apples are not roots” (Angels in the Architecture, p. 203).
Howlers
In a revision of an earlier indiscretion in print, Nick Gier continues to dub us the “Moscow Taliban.” This device of calling conservative Presbyterians Talibanesque was (in Gier World) quite a witticism, and one which Gier felt obliged to give credit for, and so he acknowledged Mark Potok, from the world’s richest civil rights organization. …
Black and Tan
Last year when the slavery booklet flap was at its height, and the booklet itself was out of print, I said that the material was going to be released in revised form. Well, that form has grown into a small book, and the day of publication draweth nigh. The title of the book is Black …
Life Together
“At thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore” (Ps. 16: 11) Growing Dominion, Part 33 As evangelical Christians, we know that we are saved by grace through faith, and it is not of ourselves, lest any should boast. Our salvation, in other words, is gracious, and completely detached from any notion of merit or …
Postmodern Lechery
Many philosophical fads and currents should be considered as differing attempts at rationalizing the world in such a way that sexual immorality is no longer sexual immorality. And when the philosophical fog machine is completely up and running, and the incoherence fills the room with a misty haze, the chances are good that this is …
False Witness
This commandment strikes at the heart of falsehood and lies, which in their turn are the native language of the devil. Without truth and trust, biblical culture is an impossibility. “You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor” (Ex. 20:16). First, what is the context of false witness? The commandment prohibits lying against one’s …
White Supremacy, Ha
“Which brings up another point: why is it that the “supremacists” among us behave the way they do? If there is a kid in seventh grade who is busy heaping contempt upon the heads of the fifth graders, it is likely that he is not exactly the class genius. He is struggling to fulfill his …
Words and Decimal Places
“But words do not have decimal places. Neither do flowers and volcanoes. The eye can see but cannot do logarithms. A toddler can catch a ball but cannot do the math necessary to enable him to do so. Symbols or numbers in a mathematical formula have a denotation but no connotation to speak of. The …