“The offenders must repent before Allah, but Allah decides whether or not to forgive him. On Judgment Day the person will discover whether or not Allah will forgive him . . . In short, Allah alone decides whether a person is forgiven. If he commits a big sin, he is at Allah’s mercy. If he …
When Vice Gets Good Press
“When did we no longer appreciate that to dignify certain modes of behavior, manners, and ways of being with artistic representation was implicitly to glorify and promote them?” (Theodore Dalrymple, Our Culture, What’s Left of It, p. 55).
No Little Decisions
“Every son of Adam was at one point a fertilized egg. The moment before millions of sperm were vying to be the one. During the course of that day, how many actions affected the outcome of this most fascinating race? This sperm results in this individual (along with the many thousands of this individual’s descendants), …
The Implacable Hatred of Divines
“Contentions cause much perverseness in men’s tongues, and this causes a breach in their spirits. Your contending costs you dearly. Though it were in nothing else, yet the loss of this sweetness of spirit makes it very costly to you. All the wrong that you would have endured if you had not contended would not …
Potoked Again
Reactions to the NYT article were not long in coming. This one comes from the Southern Poverty Law Center, the world’s richest civil rights organization. Mark Potok, author of this article, was upset that Molly Worthen, author of the NYT piece, wrote a balanced, critical piece when the SPLC clearly sees the crying obligation for …
A New Perspective on Ron Paul
From my comments on this blog thus far, it should have been gathered that I have more than a little sympathy for Ron Paul. I far prefer him to the standard-issue Republican candidate, who would not recognize the Constitution if a copy were to be set on fire on his front lawn. And so I …
Garden and Wilderness
We always want our faith to revolve around the center of what God has revealed, which is of course the gospel. But it is not enough to have the word gospel in our conversation. We must see that our definition of the word matches the teaching and instruction of Christ. “And immediately the Spirit driveth …
Opportunities to be Generous
“At thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore” (Ps. 16: 11) Growing Dominion, Part 128 “Whoso stoppeth his ears at the cry of the poor, he also shall cry himself, but shall not be heard” (Prov. 21:13). This proverb teaches that what goes around comes around, and particularly in the realm of charity and …
Medieval and Protestant
“In that way the Arcadia is a kind of touchstone. What a man thinks of it, far more than what he thinks of Shakespeare or Spenser or Donne, tests the depth of his sympathy with the sixteenth century . . . It gathers up what a whole generation wanted to say. The very gallimaufry that …
From God’s Supply
“The stewardship metaphor indicated the content of the preacher’s message. Indeed, if the metaphor teaches anything, it teaches that the preacher does not supply his own message; he is supplied with it. If the steward is not expected to feed the household out of his own pocket, the preacher is not to provide his own …