“How should a young man seek a wife? What should his criteria be? First, a few important pointers on what not to do. Do not hand out photocopies of this chapter at the college and career class at church, announcing in a loud voice that you are ready for the marital state and are earnestly …
Crows Strutting in the Gutter
As we try to understand the disintegration of culture around us, including the prevailing drift of pop culture toward that which is grimy — on the assumption that it is therefore more “authentic” — we have to do some hard thinking about the relationship of flesh and bones. Particulars matter. The way something is enfleshed …
Lowlife Authenticity
Too many parents try to understand the ins and outs of popular culture by trying to study particular artifacts of that culture. But the real thing to get to is the driving engine. What makes it go? What are the foundational presuppositions? If you teach your children to identify those rightly, and to respond in …
The Idea of History Itself
“Our current obsesssion with multiculturalism is a prime example of this. This obsession is not an educated desire to ‘modify the emphasis,’ gently reminding us that the Chinese had a great civilization while our Anglo ancestors were still killing their meat with rocks. If the desire of the multiculturalists were simply a well-taken insistence that …
Be Strict About Not Being Too Strict
“A father should never fall into the trap of thinking that anything that is ‘strict’ is biblical. Most false religions are strict. If a man applies discipline wrongly, he can mess with his kid’s head for life. He must not confuse house rules with God’s rules. He must teach his children to make such basic …
Learning to Suspect the Received Account
“The person weighing these things must know that there is no publication called All Reputable Historians’ Review. Acceptance of what one certified historian states entails rejection of what another certified historian says. This is not the path to relativism, but is rather an acceptance of what the Christian faith plainly teaches us. Men are sinners, …
Weird Holiness
“All anti-biblical legalisms would fit into this category. ‘You are not really a genuinely committed father unless you . . . fulfill every commandment that our association of cracked brains comes up with’ — you name it — godliness through beekeeping, holiness through teetotalism, righteousness through smashing your television, and onward, into the fog!” (Federal …
Proportional Weight
“My interest in this discussion is not to show the South as a perfect place for blacks to be slaves in, but rather to show the Bible as the perfect book for Christians, then and now. In the several quotations that follow, the point is not to paint the South as a utopia. If the …
Functional Superiorities
“So which is superior, a ten-pound sledge, or a china tea cup? The answer depends entirely on what you want to do. Do you want to drink tea or drive in railroad spikes? To ascribe to a railroad spike the attributes of delicacy and beauty would be to insult the railroad (not that it would …
Whiter Than She Wanted to Be
“The leadership of the early church at Antioch contained at least one black man (Acts 13:1). And what happened to Miriam when she opposed the marriage of Moses to a black woman (Num. 12)? God turned her a little bit whiter than she had been previously, but it was the white of leprosy, and this …