“So let us try to forget the word evangelical as a demographic description. Let us try to forget the word liturgical as a description of the boring church you grew up in. Let us try to forget the word doctrine as it was handled by that great nineteenth-century divine, the Rev. Dr. Snodgood, in three …
Pursued by . . . Hounds
In a few weeks, the short film The Hound of Heaven will be premiering in London at the Raindance Film Festival. It was made here in Moscow, directed by Nate, and is spooky good. After it releases, I will let you know how you can see it. In the meantime, click on the picture for …
Keeping It Simple
After a few days have gone by, I finally got around to watching the clip of Ted Cruz addressing a dinner hosted by “In Defense of Christians” (IDC). I had seen it referred to in various ways, but with some online calling it a despicable stunt on the part of Cruz. I saw the entire …
Due Process, or Do the Process?
Some, like myself, believe that coercion without warrant from Scripture is a very bad thing. For others this category of coercion is largely invisible. It just appears to be part of the way things are. In this installment, I want to explain how unlawful coercion is a very real characteristic of our governmental system, and …
Stuff Inviolate
I have been arguing that property rights are human rights. I have been insisting that it is not possible to love your neighbor without respecting his stuff. I have been saying that the commandment thou shalt not steal presupposes the institution of private property in just the same way that the prohibition of adultery presupposes …
One Sees His Point, Of Course
Sure. Let’s Call It a Contribution.
So I have distinguished the payment of taxes that are owed, and the payment of taxes that is rendered out of a principled prudence. In the former instance, paying taxes is a matter of conscience and in the latter it is a matter of intelligence. When I give my wallet to the mugger, I am …
Floating Lazily Away from the Pulpit
“But the Spirit will fall. The thunderhead will roll in. And when it happens, the work of regeneration will be a gully washer, and lots of ecclesiastics will be pretty upset. But many more of them will be soaked through, and it will become increasingly harder to preach our little floating dust cloud sermons” (Against …
Not Going to Mess Around
“The Spirit, when He moves, will not be like a little zephyr, stirring the gauzy curtains of our theological library. His moving will be more like a massive thunderhead, silver on the top and utterly black on the bottom, coming in from the west, and looking to soak absolutely everybody” (Against the Church, p. 202).
Intention Unmediated
“The distinction between the two was the love of God for Jacob and the hatred of God for Esau — the distinction was in God’s intention, and God’s intention is not mediated. The intention drives the mediation, not the other way around . . . The fact that the gift of faith is not inexorably …