INTRODUCTION:Human flourishing depends in large measure on the faithfulness and happiness of families, and this depends, in its turn, on the honor rendered to the parents by the children. This is, the apostle Paul tells us, the first commandment with a promise. The promise originally applied to the land of Canaan, as it was spoken …
Five More Volleys on Effeminate Worship
A short while ago I posted something about effeminate worship that has since that time excited some comment. The original piece was here, and you can see a couple of responses here and here. This is not so much a point-by-point refutation as it is getting out a wetvac to clear up some misunderstandings. Once …
Bloodshed and Buggery
So Mitt Romney hired Richard Grenell as his foreign policy spokesman, and Grenell is an “out and proud” homosexual. Well, who could have seen that coming? The issue is how these things get mainstreamed. There is a certain kind of conservative who, in Dabney’s immortal phrase, is the shadow that follows radicalism to perdition. It …
Your Worship Service Might Be Effeminate If . . .
For a number of interesting reasons, Christian worship in the West has become increasingly effeminate. Leon Podles outlines some of these historical reasons in his fine book, The Church Impotent. Ann Douglas makes a fine addition to the discussion in her book, The Feminization of American Culture. To emphasize masculinity in worship is not a …
The Difference Between Doubts and Questions
What is the difference between doubts and questions? Many Christians struggle with this problem. Because the two are not properly distinguished, many are trapped in a confusion that can lead to despair. We grow as Christians when we question, even if the questions are difficult, requiring hard answers. But when we doubt, we dry up …
Deacons, Defaults, and Daughters
Allow me to place two apparently unrelated points side by side, and then make a third point with the two of them together. Let me start by pointing to a particular feature of the European debt crisis, and then move on to the stealth campaign for women deacons in the PCA via Manhattan’s Redeemer. Then …
A Little Rooster of a Brother
In most instances, bringing up daughters also includes bringing up sons at more or less the same time, and this means that someone has to manage the interaction. Boys and girls discover their differences early on, and in many cases, they discover that they don’t like those differences all that much. And they say so. …
Alinsky Ball
Recent days have seen the media and/or new media in an uproar over a couple of incidents that invite a bit more investigation from the intellectually curious. I refer to Rush Limbaugh’s insult of Sandra Fluke, and Kirk Cameron’s gracious response to a question from Piers Morgan about homosexuality. Now in the interests of accuracy, …
How Jerks Define the Golden Life
One of the common problems that pastors have in giving counsel to troubled couples is the problem of determining when a particular sin in marriage is “actionable.” How bad does it have to be before the wronged spouse can walk? I am speaking here of sexual sins, which, given the nature of the case, are …
Competing Like a Lady
One time, many years ago, our family drove up to a summer basketball camp where Nate was participating. While there, we took a look around, and watched some of the action of a girls’ basketball camp, then still in progress. This was a Christian camp, and yet the girls were swaggering around on the court, …