Once there was a man who didn’t believe in flipping hamburgers when he was barbequing. As a result, his wife didn’t ask him to cook very often, but sometimes he would just volunteer, and then, there everybody was. The result of his unique approach was, of course, that either a hamburger was charred on one …
On Not Watching the Punch and Judy Show
As Obama is settling in to doing his thing, a couple of observations. The first is that Obama is a very different kind of slick than Bill Clinton was. Clinton’s was more a function of greasiness than anything else. Obama is disciplined, sharp, shrewd, and fully capable of coopting thin veneer conservatives. And all the …
Amoretti Roll Out
I have linked here before, but please allow me do so again. My daughter Bekah has a business named Amoretti, and she has just rolled out a new web site for it. Even if you clicked all through the old web site, check out all the nooks and crannies of this one. There will be …
David Wells
I haven’t been posting much because I am on the road, visiting the Auburn Avenue Pastors’ Conference. But just a quick note — on the plane ride here, I finished David Wells’ latest book, The Courage to Be Protestant. Magnificent book, and I love that man. Pretension after evangelical pretension is mercilessly dissected. Over against …
Friends With Susan
“Mom, you told me once that I didn’t have to be friends with Susan, right?” “Actually,” her mother replied, “I told you that I would rather you not be friends with Susan. But basically, yes.” “Well, in the last couple weeks she has asked me to two different events. A get together at her place …
An Atheist Challenge Answered
Last night I read through a small booklet that was really quite good — it was called The Easter Answer, and addressed the problem of harmonizing the various accounts of Christ’s resurrection appearances. The author, Stephen Kingsley, is a fellow Idaho pastor who addressed our NSA Disputatio a few years back. In this booklet, he …
Merry Christmas 2008
Stories organize our lives, and the stories that won’t or can’t do that are false stories. The stories that orient us, that place us back where we should have been, the stories that bring redemption, are called true stories. They go by other names if you listen to the tellers of false stories — legends, …
State of the Church 2009
INTRODUCTION: As we consider God’s ongoing kindnesses to us as a congregation, we need to be sure to grasp more than just the “facts.” We need also to have a biblical paradigm for processing those facts—otherwise we will radically misinterpret what is happening to us. THE TEXT: “But this I confess unto thee, that after …
Accountability in Church Government
“I wrote to the church, but Diotrephes, who love to have the preeminence among them, does not receive us” (John the Apostle) Because the world is a fallen place, it is not surprising that what we call “accountability” is necessary. Because of the scriptural teaching about the fallen nature of man, even when such a …
The Four-Office View
The local church is where most Christians come into contact with the government of the church, and, not surprisingly, there is considerable debate about the government of the local church. The purpose here is to sketch some the various positions that have been taken, and give a few scriptural indications of what I believe to …