Ignore the Distraction
Fashions and Fads
“Nothing has proven to be more irrelevant than the liberal lust for relevance.”
The Cultural Mind, p. 178
Pattern Recognition Failure
“So many churches, denominations, parachurch ministries, mission agencies, and publishing houses have drifted into unbelief and liberalism that one would think that we should know what it looks like by now. But Solomon’s words still ring true. Fools receiving an inheritance from the past do not think to inquire whether or not they are being fools. Every morning is a new day to them, and they see no need to cling to all those dry and dusty lessons from the day before. They just take the valuables, shake the dust of wisdom off them, and head down to the pawn shop.”
The Cultural Mind, pp. 177-178
Red, Red Whine
Introduction: So this is a time when good writers reach into their tool chest in order to trot out a phrase like "much ballyhooed." The much ballyhooed red wave has hit the beach. It was not ...
Audio Reading of Post
Letters Come and Go, But Mostly Come
Letter to the Editor: Thank you for writing this particular blog topic. The subject is one of the myriad of topics that most churches seem unwilling to confront openly. As a woman, I understand ...
Horse and Cart
“In Paul’s theology, grace and works do not mix at all—otherwise, grace would no longer be grace. At the same time, Paul teaches that grace works . . . We are not saved in any way by good works, but we are necessarily saved to good works.”
The Cultural Mind, p. 174
Tenured Historians of the Golden Calf
Introduction: If a man were to undertake a proof that triangles had three sides, and he was making heavy weather in getting his point across, there would be several possibilities that we would need ...
Audio Reading of Post
Hands and Handles
“Grace has no handles and is impossible for sinners to pick up. But grace does have hands and consequently has no difficulty picking us up.”
The Cultural Mind, p. 173
That’s a Point of View, Certainly
Momentary Men, Not Modern
“We careen from one thing to the next, thumb on the remote. Our presidential debates are not debates at all but more like demolition derbies between competing sound bytes. On virtually all our products, we plaster some form of ‘New! Improved!’ In other words, the product is emphatically not what it was the last time we were foolish enough to buy it. Sermons have deteriorated into 10-minute-long, entertaining sketches of some inspiration mini-thought or other. Momentous event on the other side of the world are summarized for us on the evening news in one minute and forty-five seconds . . . and now this. Continuity bores us. Sustained thought is wearisome. And whatever you do, it better be different from last time. In a culture like ours, fads are just like cotton—the fabric of our lives.”
The Cultural Mind, pp. 169-170