Well, today Obama denounced remarks made by his incendiary preacher, and I must say I view this with a measure of alarm. Speaking for incendiary preachers everywhere, what kind of message does this send? What sort of chilling effect might it create? If a member of my congregation ever ran for president . . . …
Fox News Indignation
A lot of attention in this last news cycle is being rendered to the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, pastor of Obama. Apparently there have been cameras running when he unleashed some of his loonier sentiments, to wit, that the United States government has been actively trying to kill black people by inventing the AIDS virus. This …
Supreme Virtue Cheating
Hillary Clinton has come out in opposition to “do-overs” in Michigan and Florida. At the same time, she now wants the first-time voting in those states to count. This, even though she and the other candidates had agreed not to compete in those states (because they had violated DNC rules by moving their primaries to …
Why We Should Rather Not Become An Obama-Nation
Whether we like it or not, our understanding of Scripture (or lack of understanding) is a central part of our public policy debates. There will be more on this in an upcoming discussion of N.T. Wright’s unfortunate backing away from some of the central public ramifications of the faith, which he did in the aftermath …
Last One
Yesterday, I finished up a short, four-part series of sermons on loving little kids. You can find the last one here.
Loving Little Ones 4
INTRODUCTION: Thus far, we have considered the context of all child-rearing, the attitude underneath all child nurture, and the mechanics of discipline. We will finish this short series on loving little ones by addressing a miscellaneous collection of remaining issues. THE TEXTS: “Like as a father pitieth his children, so the LORD pitieth them that …
William F. Buckley, R.I.P.
William F. Buckley went to be with the Lord yesterday, and I cannot let the moment pass without acknowledging, however inadequately, my many obligations to him. I attended high school in Ann Arbor, Michigan from 1968 to 1971, and those were, as some of you no doubt recall, zany times in a zany town. I …
How Big a Problem is Porn?
Here is some good news, I guess, depending on how you look at it, but bear with me for a moment. I have long had trouble with people who try to encourage or alarm us with raw numbers alone. Raw numbers alone are often a very misleading part of the story. An example would be …
Discipline in Context
Yesterday’s sermon was third in a series on loving little children. You can find it here.
Cool and Uncool
“But what is cool anyway? For a passion so prominent in our hearts, we barely notice it, or think about it. We watch our tempers, we control our appetites, and we surrender our jealousies to God, but cool flies below our radar . . . I am defining cool as the private performance of rebellion …