I have just a few random comments, public-service-announcement-wise. I put them under this category because it does relate to a couple of them, but taking one thing with another, this is just a mishmash. Besides, I need something random to go with the title.
1. Happy Thanksgiving. Take great care to eat too much, but not way too much. God is great, God is good.
2. Some have commented to me about the torrent of posts that sometimes appear in this space, and I believe they have been concerned about whether I am spending every waking hour typing like a madman. No, not at all. I have only had a blog for a couple years, but I have had a computer for many years. Much of what I post here has been hauled out of my computer archives, lightly edited, given a brief week or so in the cyber-sunlight, blinking, and then sent off to my blog basement archives where you can find them if you want.
3. A lot of people come through here (between three and four thousand distinct visitors a day), and about twenty percent of you are new arrivals. “What’s all this?” I can hear you saying amongst yourselves. Well, there is a lot going on here in Moscow, and we think it represents a vibrant cluster of ministries, and we are very grateful for the grace of God to us. Please check out all the links, like this one or that one. But we should also let you know that there is, ahem, an alternative view out there. If you do a google search on “Doug Wilson psychopath” or anything like that, you should get both the drift and the gist. Now I don’t think this is true or anything, but everybody should still be careful because that’s just what a psychopath would say. Can’t be too careful these days.
4. The great ideological battle of the 20th century was the Cold War — Marxism versus liberal democracy. In my view, these two great but exhausted secularisms have been replaced in the arena. The great theological battle over the course of the next century will be between the Christian faith and Islam. If you want to get a sense of the gathering forces, take a look here, here, and here. The comprehensiveness of Islam is one of its greatest strengths, and piecemeal Christianity isn’t going to be able to cut it. But a comprehensive approach to the Christian faith (undertaken in a trinitarian way, without aping Islam) has what it will take. It is the only faith that has what it will take. But the old piecemeal Christianity is still seriously entrenched in the evangelical church, and arguing for the “whole deal” will rapidly earn you some opposition, along with categorization as a racist, pig-dog, psycopathic, federal-vision type.
5. A blog is a tool, and not a place for preening. I know that some have wondered about the recycling of quotes from my books, but this is not being done because I like hearing myself talk. The point of being a preacher and teacher is to get the word out. The early disciples were accused of just this, but they were not being accused of being narcissists. “And when they had brought them, they set them before the council: and the high priest asked them, Saying, Did not we straitly command you that ye should not teach in this name? and, behold, ye have filled Jerusalem with your doctrine” (Acts 5:27b-28).
6. No blogging tomorrow — just preparing, watching football, fellowship, eating and rejoicing. My wife, a pearl among women, is cooking a manifesto for the ages. How’s that for a metaphor? We are of course having family and friends, not quite sure how many. I picked up the tables this morning, and the spread will be twenty feet long, and a separate table groaning nearby with all the food on it. Nancy is cooking a turkey and a ham, and part of another turkey, and potatoes, and gravy, and green beans with pistachios in them, glazed rolls, honey butter, stuffing, and, as the translators of the King James would put it, divers pies. The joy of the Lord is our strength. Happy Thanksgiving!