Over the years my wife and I have referred to the problem of a child having a “low tank,” meaning that it was time for us to pour on the affection. But this, like everything else in this sorry world, can be misconstrued and misapplied. When a kid has a low tank, he is low …
Just Good Stuff
I am currently reading a book called Truck: A Love Story, which is really worthwhile, but I had to stop and share this description with you. “Greg Brown’s voice sounds as it was aged in a whiskey cask, cured in an Ozarks smokehouse, dropped down a stone well, pulled out damp, and kept moist in …
Tell Him to Quit It
Jesus is always the one who surprises. We think we know what piety and devotion are . . . until Jesus tells us to do the opposite. “Then said he unto the disciples, ‘It is impossible but that offences will come: but woe unto him, through whom they come! It were better for him that …
Thanks for the Thanks
The most appropriate way to begin a review of a book like this is by giving thanks for it. The Gift of Thanks is more a collection of micro-arguments and discursive observations on various aspects of gratitude than it is a sustained argument from front to back, and yet the end result is extremely satisfying. …
The Need for a Sense of Smell
I recall one place where N.T. Wright said that the economic policies of Margaret Thatcher were “evil.” As a good portion of the Western world is now in the process of running out of money, this set up an interesting train of thought. Is it “evil” to be broke, to run out of money? Presumably …
Blinded With Science
Karl W. Giberson is vice president of The BioLogos Foundation, and has recently written a provocative piece on how Jesus would believe in evolution, and “so should you.” This is because Jesus claimed to be the Truth, and since evolution is true, darn it, our acceptance of whatever He “would have held” would seem to …
You Can Look Them Up On Your Phone
When it comes to modern conveniences, many Christians are confused about the relationship of their hot and cold running water, say, to the worldview that we inherited from the Enlighenment, the outlook of modernity. If we reject the Enlightenment (and who shouldn’t?), does that mean we must be relegated to the grass huts? Put another …
Seven Reasons Why We Can’t Water Down the Lake of Fire
John Piper and I have been writing about a possible way in which my recent video response to Rob Bell’s universalism could be troubling. Near the end of the clip I echo a theological point made by C.S. Lewis about the nature of damnation, and how Hell is in some way “chosen” by all its …
Who Owns the Job?
Just a quick note about “collective bargaining.” The real question for those who would understand the nature of unions is the question of ownership. Say there is a particular job at the office building, or at the factory, or in the shop on Main Street. Who owns that job? The assumption behind collective bargaining is …
Gay Marriage as Failure to Launch
If the Bible teaches, as it does, that the woman is the glory of the man, what follows from this? Among others things, we find an answer to one of the central challenges of our culture wars — by which I mean the cultural infantilism of homosexual marriage. “the woman is the glory of the …