As you read the newspaper, as you follow political campaigns, as you watch the evening news, you will see outrage after outrage. But I am not referring to the outrages of private criminals, which can certainly be horrendous. I am referring to the outrages of our elected officials, our appointed justices, our magistrates. Now all …
Cutting the Throat of Sin
“I do believe in my heart that there may be as much holiness in a laugh as in a cry; and that, sometimes, to laugh is the better thing of the two, for I may weep, and be murmuring, and repining, and thinking all sorts of bitter thoughts against God; while, at another time, I …
A Worksy Sounding Word
Lane has responded to my post on “jumping and obeying,” and confesses himself a bit puzzled. And I, speaking for myself, am puzzled also. Lane took me as objecting to grammatical and dogmatic parsing generally, when I was only objecting to it as a means of solving non-existent problems. Just for the record, I am …
Go, Therefore
“We are to go out into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature, not to stop in our chapels waiting for every creature to come in to hear what we have to say. A sportsman, who should sit at his parlour window, with his gun loaded all ready for shooting partridgees, would …
Popsicle Stick Limitations
One of the things I have been emphasizing in my responses to N.T. Wright on the Third World is the importance of recognizing the complexity of the problem — calls for jubilee mercy in struggling nations are all very well, but suppose it is not like helping a guy with some bruises to the nearest …
Not Rushing to Comfort/Amos 4
INTRODUCTION: We are coming now to a place in this book where Amos begins hitting his stride. His central condemnation here is directed at that corruption of worship which results in the idolatry of opulent violence. The prophet here takes his stand against monsters who sleep on satin sheets, apes dressed in purple. THE TEXT: …
Jumping and Obeying
I made a comment in passing about how the language of obedience to the gospel comes naturally to Paul’s pen. Lane picked up on this, and interacted with one of those places, 2 Thessalonians 1:5-8. [Which is] a manifest token of the righteous judgment of God, that ye may be counted worthy of the kingdom …
Stoop to Conquer
“If they sneer at anecdotes, we smile at them and their sneers, and wish them more sense and less starch” (Charles Spurgeon, Lectures to My Students, p. 362).
Metaphors Are Fun That Way
“You may build up laborious definitions and explanations and yet leave your hearers in the dark as to your meaning; but a thoroughly suitable metaphor will wonderfully clear the sense” (Charles Spurgeon, Lectures to My Students, p. 349).
A Ragbag Response to Green Baggins
Lane gave me a helpful nudge the other day. What with end of school year frenzy, and a trip back east, I lost track of where we were. I will try to get us caught up here — but that will mean that my responses will be kind of a ragbag and briefer than they …