One of the more notable features of the life of our Lord, as recorded in Scripture, is the fact that references to the outside world are overwhelmingly political. When Jesus was born, Augustus was Caesar (Luke 2:1) and Quirinius was governor of Syria (Luke 2:2). Herod the Great was ruler in Judea (Luke 1:5), and …
John Piper and Guns
So I see from the Internet that John Piper set off a flurry of reactions and responses to his gun post. I refer to the one in which he discouraged Christians from packing heat, you can imagine how that went over. For my readers in the UK, yes, this really is a thing. Some churches …
Mulled Cider, Mulled Thought
“Just as Christmas is a time of year when mulled cider is welcome, it is also a time when mulled thinking should happen as well. Thinking about Jesus, talking about Him, and reading about Him at the table throughout Advent, are good ways to fill your house with the right kind of smell” (God Rest …
Slomosexuality
Andrew Walker here describes the efforts of the new homo-jihadis to outlaw religious liberty on Christian colleges. I use the verb “outlaw,” but Walker makes it plain that this ultimate goal is not the immediate move. The current plan is simply to expose those colleges that have taken a legal exemption from the sexual pandemonium …
And Get It to Them Today
Merchants as a Form of Grace
“This does not mean that we are to charge about aimlessly, buying and giving gifts willy-nilly. The grace of God is not stupid, so don’t give pointless gifts just to have done something. The grace of God was freely given, so don’t let a racket run by unscrupulous merchants extort money from you with that …
Not There
“Every gift given in the wrong spirit is just thrown into the bottomless pit, that ultimate rat hole” (God Rest Ye Merry, p. 104).
No Traps Inside
“In giving a gift, you are attached to it. In receiving a gift, the blessing that comes to the giver is your chief delight. And the you that is attached to the gift that is given is either a gift just like the physical gift, or it is a booby-trapped box full of hidden emotional …
Social Justice Millennials
As I have been working through the Essays of C.S. Lewis, I have noticed how dedicated to the argument he was. He believed in the reality of fixed and objective truth, and believed it was necessary to assume such a fixed reality in order to get anywhere at all. We have to assume that reality …
Christmas Telos
“Pain concentrates the mind. Pain tethers you to this world, and the rope is a stout one. But at the same time, the grace of God enables you to look along the pain, to look down the entire length of the trial, and to see the purpose and point of it all” (God Rest Ye …