When we consider the temptations of nationalism, we have to think through how conservative Christians might be drawn into that error — and it is an error. We are first presented with a false alternative. On the one hand, we see those who despise America and its symbols. Think flag-burning, those who defend flag-burning, and …
Dufflepudian Eschatology
One of the great difficulties we have with perspective, especially on cultural, historical, and political issues, is the difficulty we have with the scale of events. One of my favorite quotes comes from Christopher Dawson, when he said that the Christian church lives in the light of eternity and can afford to be patient. But …
That Fortress of Fraud Called Congress
One of the basic decisions confronting the secularists is whether they give priority to secularism, which is a result, or to democracy, which is a method. Democracy might wind up with a government that is not secular in the slightest, and a secular dictator might insist on a secular state despite the majority of his …
Dancing ACLU Lawyers
One of the problems with using Constantine as a marker is that there is a tendency to anachronism, attributing to him any subsequent malfeasance on the part of Christians in power. But the Constantinian settlement was, by and large, a tolerant one. Lactantius, the early church father who tutored Constantine’s children, was an apologist for …
Letham and Hamilton
I know a number of friends in the UK follow this blog, and here is a special announcement just for you all — along with anyone over here who has enough frequent flyer miles. I speak of this conference, and commend it to you heartily. Wish I could go to it.
Rule of Thumb
“God never tries a nation or a people generally with trials which deliver them into the hands of their enemies unless it be for their sins” (Thomas Watson, Jerusalem’s Glory, p. 72).
Three Reasons Christians Don’t Read the Signs of the Times
1. Thoughtful Christians are embarrassed by those who pretend to be able to read the signs of the times. The simplistic analysis that attributes this tornado to the passage of that piece of tax legislation really is embarrassing. But the presence of people doing it wrong is no basis for a refusal to do it …
Boobquake and the Meaning of History
So there was this Muslim cleric who put his foot in it, clean up to the knee, by saying that women dressing immodestly is the cause of earthquakes. There was naturally a response in this country that called for women to show some principled cleavage in order to test that holy man’s thesis. On Monday, …
No Profit
“At thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore” (Ps. 16: 11) Food and Drink #9 “Be not carried about with divers and strange doctrines. For it is a good thing that the heart be established with grace; not with meats, which have not profited them that have been occupied therein” (Heb. 13:9). The author …
Make Sure Its Liturgy, Not Liturgay
In a recent discussion with some men I made mention of the problem that I call “clogged filters.” Like a car going down the highway, the air available is the air the car is driving in, and so the air filter needs to be replaced from time to time. The environment we live in is …