“Given the modern scientific understanding of human behavior in terms of natural laws, everything is determined by chemical reactions and evil arise solely from a miscalculation of the appropriate way of satisfying genetically determined inclinations. This the philosophy of progress; anyone who demurs is labeled irrational and sent for medical treatment. If one actually tries …
Effeminate Foppery for Jesus
“Resistance to a mindless and fastidious approach to the Christian faith is a mark of Christian masculinity. But we live in an effeminate age, one that is far worse in this regard than the times in which Spurgeon lived. This makes application of his insight simultaneously far more difficult and far more necessary. Not only …
Evil, Be Thou My Good
“These forces are brought to fruition not so much in films of the horror genre itself as in more mainstream and critically acclaimed movies like Cape Fear and Silence of the Lambs (both 1991). These stories exalt the artistic boldness of their evil supermen, who put into question the timid mores of conventional society and …
Refried Beans
“The melodrama of modern evangelicalism has gotten really bad, and it is time to start an enthusiastic throwing of the popcorn” (A Serrated Edge, p. 82).
Sneaking Standards Back In
“The need of most human beings to believe in a moral universe is proof for Nietzsche that lies and self-deception are essential conditions of human life . . . . But there is a tension in Nietzsche between an amoralism that repudiates all objective standards and a distinctively hierarchical kind of thinking that ranks souls …
Sound Effects
“There is a difference between insulting the truth of God and insulting some lunacy that a televangelist is maintaining as the truth of God. There is a difference between kicking puppies and lampooning the self-righteous and pompous, although sometimes the sound effects are very similar” (A Serrated Edge, p. 82).
No Brakes On Hip
“Aside from the settings and multiple victims, another common feature of these killings has been the influence on the perpetrators of films such as Natural Born Killers and Basketball Diaries, of fantasy video games, and of the nihilistic lyrics of Marilyn Manson . . . The pursuit of evil, then, can have a certain grandeur …
A Special Gift
“Whenever the Christian faith is accepted and established in a nation, and a large number of people are members of various churches, one of the first and deadliest temptations is the lust for respectability — a lust which is defined and established by complacent worldly values, and not by the Scriptures. Soon the pulpits of …
Where The Action Is
“It is a truism of the business world that Coke and Pepsi don’t make soda pop, they make advertising. Nike may pay Indonesian laborers absurdly low wages, but their most important concern is convincing us that it is meaningful, daring, and fulfilling to spend over one hundred dollars for a pair of sneakers. If you …
Pointy Pagan Hats
“I am reminded of the time I was reading Augustine’s wonderful work The City of God, and I came to the part where he was making fun of the pagan priests for wearing their silly mitres for hats. I thought to myself, huh, I thought, and flipped the book over for another look at the …