In the thread on my random political musing of a few days ago, someone asked who I was supporting in the race for president. It would be easier to say in the first place which candidates I couldn’t support, and then, second, what scenario could reasonably be expected to make me happy. In the interests …
Push Back
One evening a father was sitting in front of the television, watching the evening news. His teenage son happened to walk through, and stopped for a moment. A commercial came on, and so the son said, “Dad, how can you bear to watch that stuff?” His father looked up. “Well, otherwise I would not know …
Love Throughout the Week
Jesus taught us to take and eat, not take and speculate, or take and quarrel. And not only did He tell not to quarrel, He specifically told us not to quarrel. This covenant bond is designed by God to draw us closer and closer together in love for one another, and to deal with those …
Random Political Musing
Mike Huckabee makes me nervous. He gives me the willies — to wit, the fantods. Other than all the potential fun games we might have with his name — Huckaboom, Huckabust, and after the first great scandal of his administration, Huckagate — the whole thing gives me cold duck bumps all over. The first round …
Humility Reigns
Recall that the last section of Zechariah consists of two great prophetic oracles. The first is found in chapters 9-11, and the second is 12-14. We come now to a glorious prophecy of the coming Christ. “The burden of the word of the Lord against the land of Hadrach . . .”(Zech. 9:1-10). The human …
Truth or Unrighteousness
The word adikia is used multiple times in the New Testament, and is rendered by different words like unrighteousness or iniquity. In order to not burden ourselves, we will take it in several installments. Jesus claimed to have “no unrighteousness” in Him, because He was seeking the glory of the one who sent Him (John. …
Sermons Should Be Tailor-Made, Not Fetched Off the Rack
“Consider what sins appear to be most rife in the church and congregation — worldliness, covetousness, prayerlessness, wrath, pride, want of brotherly love, slander, and such like evils. Take into account, affectionately, the trials of your people, and seek for a balm for their wounds” (Charles Spurgeon, Lectures to My Students, p. 87).
What Are the Rules For?
“While reactionaries seek rules that would ban change and technocrats want rules that will control outcomes, dynamists look for rules that let people forge new bonds, invent new institutions, and find better ways of doing things” (Virginia Postrel, The Future and Its Enemies, p. 112).
Disciples of Jesus Haven’t Changed That Much
In the clean-up preparations for Christmas services at the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem, fisticuffs broke out between rival factions of priests. At least the original disciples of Christ had their squabbles on the road before the resurrection.
Good News, Lord Caiphas!
N.T. Wright sometimes overstates his case. By this I mean that he says things like “X is not Y” when it would perhaps be more helpful to say “in addition to Y we must also be careful to say X.” For example, he maintains that the gospel is not about how to get saved, but …