“The feet-on-the-stove stance of this book is a deliberate attempt to cure myself, and anyone else who will listen, of the nasty habit of worrying the world to pieces like a terrier with a rag . . . If some true believer in the gospel of haste comes along and asks us why we are …
Those Who Oppose
The servant of God must not be a striver, and yet he must correct the obstinate and proud. Paul tells Timothy that he must be prepared to meekly instruct those who oppose themselves (2 Tim. 2:25). The word here is antidiatithemai, and describes those who set themselves up in opposition. This is not because they …
And There I Abide
“Brethren, because I cannot think, I hide behind a doctrine which God has thought out for me; and because I cannot invent a hypothesis, I rest my soul on a self-evident fact; and because I cannot even be consistent with myself, I get behind the plain teaching of the text, and there I abide” (Charles …
Although That Understanding Is Coming Back
“Ritual sex and human sacrifice are stolen moments of power over, and temporary relief from submission to. They are, we know by hindsight, a mimicry of divinity, but pagan man did not know that. He experienced it as power sharing, negotiating with the gods. To placate a god by burning his children on its altars …
Slip Out the Back
“At the very least, this system [of recreational dating] is as much a preparation for divorce as it is for marriage. Whenever the other person starts to wear a little thin, you just slip out the back, Jack” (Her Hand in Marriage, p. 11).
Voting As Civil Sacrament and the Case Against McCain
Consider this a short statement from a Christian and a conservative on why he is not going to vote for John McCain. If it comes out clearly, then there you go. If it doesn’t, which it easily might not, then I will no doubt have to follow up with further explanations — all offered while …
Denying the Cat
The Doors of the Sea is a small book, divided into two chapters — “Universal Harmony” and “Divine Victory.” Each chapter is divided into sections, and I want to interact with the book section by section. In this book, David Bentley Hart grapples with the Asian tsunami and the problem of natural evil. I don’t …
Children in Worship
The topic of children in the worship service is, in some respects, a very mundane one. What does the Bible say about nursery, children’s church or Sunday School, or keeping your children with you during the service? This is something which we all deal with every week; what light if any does the Bible shed …
Stuffed Manskins
“There is no way around the killing here that is not less than human in the end; man is what he is: hunter, butcher, carnivore; save him without that and you save nothing — manskins stuffed with sacred sawdust reach no New Jerusalem” (Robert Farrar Capon, The Supper of the Lamb, p. 49).
Unholiness and Bad Company
The word anosios means unholy, and Paul uses it twice in the pastorals. One of the purposes of the law that God gave us is the restraint of the wicked and unholy. “Knowing this, that the law is not made for a righteous man, but for the lawless and disobedient, for the ungodly and for …