“This is why the theory of evolution is such a big issue — the theory of evolution is a jurisdictional claim that the devil is making. If we were not created in the image of God, then this means that we have no jurisdictional appeal beyond Caesar. If there is no God above Caesar, then …
Coin from God’s Mint
“The answer is that we are coin from God’s mint. We are created in the image of God, and are therefore forbidden to render ourselves to Caesar. We give one thing to Caesar and another to God. We may not render it all to Caesar. It is prohibited. And they marveled at him” (Rules, p. …
So, About That Blasphemy . . .
In the aftermath of the Islamic attack on the free speech/draw a cartoon of Mohammad contest, I think it is time for us to review what we think about blasphemy laws. I want to argue that events like the cartoon contest should be protected speech, but I also want to argue that life is not …
More Limits Than That
“We tend to assume that if the existing authorities tell us to do anything short of swearing an oath to worship Satan, then we have to do it. This does not exhibit a mature theology of resistance” (Rules, p. 129).
Blindness Is As Blindness Goes
“When someone is spiraling toward the darkness, the light doesn’t get any better as he goes. This is happening to them because they can’t see” (Rules, p. 126).
With Maggots Under Their Tongues
My friend Peter Leithart thinks the “most promising, and most peaceable” way out of our current marriage law impasse is a bill currently making its way through the Alabama legislature. “SB377 would remove the duty of confirming marriages from county probate judges and allow marriages to be recorded by the state after filing a simple …
A Reservoir of Blood Guilt
“According to Scripture, blood is something that returns to those who shed it. It also returns to the land where it was shed. And our vast reservoir of guilt is larger and deeper than it has ever been. The only blood that does not return with compounded guilt is the blood of Jesus” (Rules, p. …
Arms Full of Justice Swag
In light of the recent events in Baltimore, everyone wants to have an honest conversation about race. The difficulty is that in this honest conversation about race, nobody is allowed to say anything that is true. We have gotten to the point where the simple truth is inflammatory. Now the obvious truth should be about …
Long Gone
“It is not possible to build a culture around a denial of God-given standards, and then arbitrarily reintroduce those standards at your convenience, whenever you need a word like evil to describe what has just happened. Those words cannot just be whistled up from the place where we exiled them. If we have banished them, …
A Dinghy Full of Two-Kingdom Theologians
When you write things that are kind of “out there,” as I have sometimes done, you do have to explain different aspects of the situation from time to time. Consider this is one such attempt. First, let’s deal with the optical illusion of “out there.” The situation was first created when a bunch of us …