As part of my neo-fundamentalist masochism, I have been reading quite a bit of quasi-postmodern Christian writing lately, and the more quasi I read the more queasy I get. The latest entry that has found its way into my briefcase is Brian McLaren’s A New Kind of Christian. One of the most frustrating aspects of …
Foundations of Marriage XI
Introduction: So what are the duties of husbands? We have discussed what their orientation and demeanor toward their wives should be (masculinity), but this is all still theoretical unless we make a point of applying ourselves in close imitation of the Incarnation. What are the duties of husbands? We may divide them into two broad …
Intolerista, Baby
Dr. James Dobson is ticking off all the right people again. For the last two nights, I have watched (on national news!) the controversy between Dobson and SpongeBob SquarePants unfold. Well, actually, the controversy is not unfolding there, it is simply being perpetuated from one monomanaical vantage point. Those who want to find out the …
Bad At Dodgeball
A goodish bit of indignation has been expressed by the Intoleristas over the apropos application of the word Intolerista. Remember when we were kids and used to play dodgeball with those red, rubber school balls? And there was always that kid who thought that getting hit by a ball constituted a foul and an outrage, …
Objective Exegesis
In a recent entry on his web page, Andrew Sandlin makes an important point about the incarnational nature of the Christian faith (“The Faith is What We Are”), but in my view misses the biblical balance dangerously. In rejecting an objectivity outside ourselves (that when detached from how we actually live should be rejected), I …
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. …
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 …
Semiotics In Narnia
I can only take small doses at a time, but I am continuing to labor manfully away at getting through The Next Reformation by Carl Raschke. What a piece of turgid work! After telling us that Nietzsche was grossly misunderstood (fair enough) and pointing out that he was not responsible for various Third Reichian applications …
Inerrancy Is Too Weak
The problem with the doctrine of inerrancy, as many hold to it, is that it is too weak. The question, as it is usually posed, is whether or not the Bible contains errors. The liberal says that it does and the conservative says that it does not. On one level, the conservative answer is of …
An Applied Bible
Andrew’s Sandlin’s recent response to me helpfully pin-pointed the one area where I think we genuinely differ, which is in the area of scriptural applications. First, he began by thanking me for not employing satire, invective, and so on, in my response to him. He noted that such tactics in Scripture are to be employed …