In order to understand the politics of our time, we have to understand the paradox of inequality. The way the debate is usually framed, we are forced to choose between liberty and equality. Now when I am charged to pick one of these, I am happy to do so, provided it is the right kind …
Skewed Solidarities
This last Wednesday, I sent out the following tweet: Just so you know, husbands, angry men are terrible lovers. The day after, I sent out one for the ladies: Just so you know, wives, complaining a lot is like taking ugly pills. Both tweets got positive responses, but they also each got a peculiar and …
Challenging a Young Man’s Ten Assumptions
This is a rough outline of remarks I gave to the young men of New St. Andrews. Those of you who have been here for a while know that we strive to live in community in a way that cultivates a garden of grace. We know that law doesn’t have the power to enable you …
In the Sunlight of Our Deliverance
One of things we should notice about the drive for “social justice” is that the theory of the thing contains a soteriological contradiction right at the heart of it. This is what I mean. In true evangelism, the unbeliever is being called from a state of condemnation into a state of no condemnation. This is …
Mammon Is Like Gravity
Many years ago, somewhere in the seventies, I was working for a Christian bookstore called Crossroads. One day we were visited by a young and zealous member of a group called the Children of God, and I vividly remember our conversation on the sidewalk outside the store. He asked if I had a job, a …
Theses on the Kindness of Christ
These affirmations and denials are intended by the session of Christ Church to provide a theological framework for the various mercy ministries operating under the authority of Christ Church, as well as any related teaching ministry connected to or supported by our church. We write with the average parishioner in mind, wanting to encourage active involvement …
Always Ready to Forgive
“But you can have a heart full of forgiveness, full to the brim, ready to overflow the moment repentance appears. Until that happens, there is no forgiveness. We need to distinguish forgiveness in principle and forgiveness accomplished” (For a Glory and a Covering, p. 95).
That Comfy Little Covet-Cubby
A number of people in my generation are coming to an age when issues of inheritance are becoming more and more . . . relevant. Our parents are being gathered to their fathers, and we are left to sort out the stuff. The fact that we do not do well in this is not a …
Amen to the Seventeenth Power
We have gotten to the point where raw power has become the foundational principle of governance — the ruling class does whatever they can get away with, which is quite a bit. A picture of a monster stack of all the Obamacare regulations was recently circulating on the Internet, and I think it was Jonah …
Snarls and Snarling
We have seen that the devil baits his hook with sinful pleasures, and then, when the hapless sinner bites, he gives a deft tug on the hook of accusation. Now the fish might well protest, when being hauled into the boat of condemnation by the ruthless fisherman, that the worm was not his idea. “Why …