Cultural shifts are accomplished, or prevented, by various policing actions. I am not here referring to the cops, although they are sometimes part of it. But I am referring to the rigorous imposition of sanctions. Those sanctions could involve fines, denial of tenure, loss of vocation, restriction of liberty, etc. Whenever old gods are being …
Nothing to Write Home About
“Neither am I a ‘food egalitarian.’ There is great cooking, good cooking, so-so cooking, poor cooking, and carrots out of the bag” (Confessions of a Food Catholic, p. 3).
Because That Would Be Bad
“Theocracy is not, however, to be confused with ‘theocracy’ or any other form of government contained within scare quotes, to which I am unalterably opposed” (Empires of Dirt, p. 4).
Until the Bull Pukes
There are two kinds of sorrow. One is a genuine sorrow over sin, and the other is a trap baited by sin. One turns away from displeasing the Lord while the other wallows in displeasing the Lord. “For godly grief produces a repentance that leads to salvation without regret, whereas worldly grief produces death” (2 …
Crowbars or Congressmen
If we want justice and equity in human relationships, we have to begin by acknowledging that God owns everything. One of the reasons our culture had for adopting atheistic evolution as our foundational creed is to get around this most inconvenient reality. In a world of purposeless chance, there is stuff lying around, and those …
A Diem That Needs Some Carping
The current conflict between Israel and the United States is a really odd one. For the Israelis, the whole thing is a matter of life and death, a serious conflict. On the Obama/Kerry side of things, their behavior more closely resembles a one-sided junior high girls’ slap fight. But before getting into all that, a …
Feather the Frosting On With a Canoe Paddle
You secularists are fond of using coercion to make evangelicals bake you a cake, right? That’s kind of your thing, isn’t it? Well, let me volunteer to make you one. I am calling it the cake of confusion, and it is a pretty large one. We shall have to feather the frosting on with a …
Devilish Arts
Given the continued attention the world and its lusts are paying to the subject of robosex and virtual sex, and the almost entire lack of preparedness on the part of the Church, I thought I should repost this piece from a couple years ago. C.S. Lewis was not just a winsome and engaging writer, a …
Jesus Is Not Our Ethanol
The Germans frequently have just the word for it. Taking joy in the misfortunate of another is schadenfreude. That feeling of embarrassment you get on behalf of another who ought to be embarrassed himself but somehow isn’t is fremdschämen. I bring this up because we either need to coin or find another word for another …
Race to the Punch Line
We are currently engaged in a culture-wide race to the conclusion of a reductio ad absurdum. Think of it this way. Back in the Bill Clinton era, there were always stories of the “trail of bodies.” If you gave any credence to them at all, you were a nut, a conspiracy theorist, a true head …