Dear visionaries, I believe a fundamental flaw in analyzing America’s foreign policy in the Middle East (or anywhere else) is that we persist in speaking as though the “two sides” represented are limited to the Mutt and Jeff of our two party system. The real issue of substantive debate in foreign policy is between the …
After Darkness, Light
In a recent post on postmodernism, I commented on the timidity of many who will not handle their discontents in a scriptural manner. This ties in with postmodernism because of the primacy of feeling in postmodern subjectivism. Interestingly, after posting that I got an (anonymous) critique that acknowledged the truthfulness of part of what I …
Hearts Full of Thorns
A number of years ago, I used to wonder what we were doing wrong. I knew that the Lord had promised hostility and opposition to all who were faithful in doing the work of His kingdom. So how was it that we were spending years in these placid waters? I felt something like that hapless …
A Surrogate Religion
Dear visionaries, I wanted to commend Tony for writing a fair article for this last weekend’s newspaper on the growing rift in Moscow between liberals and conservatives. However, something which I mentioned to him during the interview (and which he did include) needs to be emphasized yet again. A generation or two ago, the jibe …
Half Time
Dear visionaries, The reason we are all getting tired of the discussion surrounding Timothy’s use of the epithet slut is not because the discussion is over. Not at all. We are simply approaching half time when we all have to switch directions. Not many of you knew this, but Timothy is actually a performance artist …
There’s a Single Standard Somewhere
Dear visionaries, Susannah quotes me: “You all are in a hopeless bind here.” And then she says that the bind is only hopeless if their goal is to establish a single standard for everyone that satisfies me. She goes on to add that this goal isn’t on most people’s agenda. And to this I say: …
Epistemic Relief
Morning, visionaries, The remarkable thing about relativism is that, for all the advertising hype, it really isn’t that elastic. It never stretches very far, and only stretches to the left. Jim tells Timothy to keep his “simple minded insults against women” to himself. Timothy’s attitude is apparently the “real obscenity.” Really? There is such a …
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 …