Abraham Kuyper on John Calvin on the United States Congress

Here is a money quote, passed on to me by my son-in-law Luke, who got it from his dad, who is working through Kuyper’s Lectures on Calvinism. Kuyper is quoting from Calvin’s commentary on Samuel. “And ye, O peoples, to whom God gave the liberty to choose your own magistrates, see to it, that ye …

Vampires, Left Behind, Propaganda, and United We Serve Lickspittles

One of the staples of discussion about basic aesthetic principles is that art has to exist for its own self, and cannot be prostituted to advance a particular cause or point of view. Perfect nonsense, of course, but that doesn’t keep it from being repeated ad nauseam. There is a truth buried in all the …

Dumping Water in the Lake

Last night I was watching the news, as is my custom, and the story about Obama’s “Dear Leader” speech to the nation’s school children came up. And no, I am not going after Obama here, although he keeps doing one creepy thing after another. Let’s just not have any missile parades, all right? Rather, I …

Exquisite Thrill

To pick one of Calvin & Hobbes many high points, I would recall the time when Calvin was industriously pounding nails into the coffee table. His mother comes tearing up to him, screaming, “What do you think you’re doing?!” He looks and her and looks at the table and says, “Is this a trick question?” …

Vampire Guilt

Just a few more comments on the vampire deal. First, everything in this fallen created order “answers to” something unfallen, with the possible exception of hyenas. In other words, the dragon is the archtypical emblem of sly, crafty, rebellion — and this goes back to the Garden. Satan is that ancient dragon. If we read …

Vampires With Self-Control

Yesterday in my sermon I mentioned in passing some of the problems with Christians allowing their kids to “get into” the Twilight series. Since this is an outrageous eruption of inexplicable legalism on my part, I thought I ought to defend it. Here is a brief four point discussion starter, and perhaps there will be …

Prayer Breakfast Judeo Christians

So let me tell you about a fun thing. A few weeks ago, Garry Trudeau ran a few strips in Doonesbury sending up “The Family,” of C Street fame — a group of Washington insiders running a ministry to politicians. As a faithful Doonesbury reader unacquainted with whatever scandal he was referring to, I thought …