One of the natural but intellectually lazy responses of theologians in the 20th century was to react to the advent of nuclear weapons with the idea that just war theory was now somehow outdated or tired. There were some exceptions, like John Courtney Murray and Paul Ramsey, but the general tendency was to pay lip …
Armchair Globo-Politicians
As I write, Israeli troops are massed on the border of Gaza, and they are about to go in to topple Hamas. They are doing this in response to a steady stream of rocket/mortar attacks from Gaza. Hamas is trying to provoke just such an invasion, in an attempt at a rope-a-dope strategy. Israel has …
Glory, Honor, Immortality/Romans 8
INTRODUCTION: Paul has already stated his great theme—that the just shall live by faith. This is the great epistle of justification by faith, apart from works of the law. At the same time, it is quite striking that there is no more of a contradiction between Paul and James than there is between Paul in …
The Spirit of Accusation/Romans 6
INTRODUCTION: God’s wrath is taught very clearly in Scripture. Our great problem with it is that we confound it with the spirit of accusation that belongs to the devil, and we show that we do not understand how righteousness, the real thing, interacts with sin. We think we know, but we tend to know only …
An Atheist Challenge Answered
Last night I read through a small booklet that was really quite good — it was called The Easter Answer, and addressed the problem of harmonizing the various accounts of Christ’s resurrection appearances. The author, Stephen Kingsley, is a fellow Idaho pastor who addressed our NSA Disputatio a few years back. In this booklet, he …
Up to My Waist in Global Warming, Shovel in Hand
Okay, I had to shovel my walk again this morning. Our Ponderosa pine are beautifully flocked again. We have had more snow than I ever remember having here. Snowfall records are shattered in Spokane. My truck hasn’t been out of four-wheel drive in weeks. As a friend asked me at church yesterday, where is Al …
A Tenuous Grasp on the Rules of Evidence
What would you say if someone told you that you could determine whether or not you were allergic to peanut butter, or peanuts for that matter, by putting a dollop of peanut butter on the back of your right hand and extending it out parallel to the floor? And that if you could keep your …
Tell the Wizard What He Wants
Once there was a boy who had a very unfortunate experience. He lived in a fairy tale, and this is why he was not very surprised when a wizard stopped him on the way home, and asked where he was going. The boy said nothing, because he had learned a long time ago that the …
Accepted Weekly
It is no accident that our service of worship concludes, or culminates, in the Supper. In response to the summons of the Lord, we have called on His name. We have confessed our sins, knowing that we cannot enter into the holy place of worship apart from His cleansing and forgiveness. We have consecrated ourselves …
Christ the Soldier
Even if we differ with it, and even if we differ with it sharply, we are all still affected by the idea of Jesus as the prototypical hippie. Those who adopt the idea may do so with the applause of pacifists, or with a Nietzsche-like disdain. But it is a very common and very influential …