During a portion of the sermon this last Sunday, I spent a little bit of time on the problem of lowlife authenticity. After the message I had a good conversation with a good friend over my professed bafflement over what causes the attraction to this lowlife ethos. He made the point that the cause of …
Apostles or Refugees?
All Christians at all times live in the culture they live in. The ancient Christian in Ephesus spoke Greek and wore the clothes available for purchase in that city. When he went for lunch, certain foods were available to him and other foods were not. At the same time, he was called to live in …
Better Off?
“Perhaps we should just limit this question to children in the wombs of black women today. If you were a black fetus in Atlanta, Georgia, what were you odds of ever seeing the light of day in 1858? What are your odds in 2005? A lot of kids died back then, but not because the …
Bag of Snakes Seminary
“Suppose a man were to refer to certain respected theologians dismissively as having graduated from Bag of Snakes Seminary. He would instantly be upbraided for his un-Christlike behavior. Unfortunately for the one delivering the rebuke, it was discovered shortly thereafter that the speaker was Christ (Mt. 23:33)” (A Serrated Edge, p. 12).
So Who Believes the Bible In This?
[With regard to the logical distinction between slavery and racism] But we are not positing a separate existence for the two back then. We are positing a separate existence for them in our thinking. A century later, we have a better perspective on some things than they did, and we believe that racism is a …
Satire or Surrender
“For various reasons, satire is studied today as something of a museum piece, in much the same way that a military historian might analyze a crossbow. The learned and respectable among us have agreed to abandon the use of satire, leaving this particular form of abuse to the buffooneries of late night comedians. Our academicized …
If At First You Don’t Secede . . .
“But let me defend them to this extent. They do not want to maintain a distinct Southern heritage because they are afraid that some Yankee judge will outlaw grits. Please note where we actually are as a nation — just a few week away from the full faith and credit clause of the mangled Constitution, …
This Sorry World
“The Christian faith is public, and not private. It is the salvation of the world, and the world can no more evade that salvation that a deserted lawn chair on the beach can resist a tsunami — even if the Styrofoam cooler comes over to help. Do you want to stop the salvation of the …
Playing Tackle
“Our investigations reveal that the austere world of black and white careful analysis, epistemological invective, doctrinal sarcasm, and eschatological jihad has obscured our sunny selves from public view. This is not necessarily a bad thing because our sunny selves can also take some getting used to. But we still thought a small book was in …
An Agenda For Politics
“But do we have an agenda for politics? Yes, we do. The Christian faith is public. Like all other sinful things in this world, Jesus Christ offers politics salvation. But when Jesus Christ invites anyone or anything to Himself, He bids him come and die. So this cannot be salvation through self-effort, self-righteousness, or self-importance. …