Theology That Bites Back
Introduction: A number of years ago, John Piper was being given some grief for having anything to do with me, and he was handling some hot grounders on the subject. In one Q & A, the topic came up (and I think the issue was something federal-visiony), and so he answered the question. He said …
“We are not called to tiptoe and mime our way across the public square” (Empires of Dirt, p. 109).
The Bitterness Juke: Sometimes we preach the thing we most need to hear. And how often we think it’s ‘just the other guy!’ In a recent post you mention bitterness. I wholeheartedly agree that it’s important to be free from bitterness. But here’s my concern: it seems that some of this ‘bitterness’ talk in our circles is, …
“I am not an American for six days and a Christian for one. Rather, I am a baptized Christian all the time, a husband all the time, a father all the time, a neighbor all the time, and a citizen all the time. And I have to figure out the hierarchical layers of these responsibilities, …
Introduction: People of course disagree about things, and one of the biggest things they differ on is the meaning and magnitude of their disagreements. One man’s adiaphora is another man’s summum bonum, one man’s mox nix is another man’s—oh I don’t know— buttterfly’s boots. I hope I am making myself clear. Let me start over. …
“Just war theory is meant to be applied by those making the decision to go to war, and not to be applied by every infantryman or sailor who might be participating in the conflict. Those making the decision generally do have the facts they need to have in order to make a just decision, and …
“He is living in the dream castle of Christianity, which is so far up in the clouds that it does not even need a security system . . . Boyd describes these horrendous situations in such a way that never makes me wish that the Cherokee had had a couple thousand pacifists standing on the …
“What happens when the king is converted and submits to baptism? What’s next in the Commission? We teach him obedience to every word that proceeds from the mouth of God. We teach obedience to all things that Christ commanded. When we lead a stable hand to Christ, we baptize him and then teach him obedience. …
“If your whole schtick is that of being a prophetic voice, then you have to figure out what to do about the off-chance of real repentance. If that happened, then not only would the inhabitants of Nineveh repent in dust and ashes, but your whole political theology would have to repent in dust and ashes, …
