The art of understanding politics does not depend primarily on having read an exhaustive stack of investigative books. Investigative books are as full of lies as the politicians themselves are, and if we have read any we should make our decisions on which to believe on the basis of other criteria. As Dennis Miller once …
A Sermon for the President
Ascension Sunday 2009 This Lord’s Day is Ascension Sunday, the day we have set apart to commemorate the exaltation of Jesus Christ to the right hand of the Ancient of Days. This was the day upon which He was given universal and complete authority over all nations and kings, when He was given all rule …
The Jitney Gods of Washington
As the Obama saga gets weirder and weirder, Christians shouldn’t forget to interpret all the news in the fundamental terms of who we want to be our god, and who wants to be the embodiment of that god. Worship is always the key to everything. And it is not the “key to everything” because we …
Learning the Tune
Mark Twain’s wife was a long-suffering woman, and one day she walked up to him and calmly repeated back to him every foul word she had ever heard him use, and he had probably used them all. When she was quite done, he looked at her and said, “My dear, you know the words, but …
Why the Devil Won’t Argue Like a Gentleman
So let me ask those of you who are interested in this kind of thing to watch this clip of an interview with N.T. Wright on the subject of homosexuality, and why he hasn’t written on it. (HT: Justin Taylor, Denny Burk) Watch it a couple times, and then read on. Let me begin by …
Hate Crimes, Sex, and the Love of God
As the lunacy of hate crimes legislation wends its way through our corridors of power, more and more wise believers are hunkering down for difficult times. Soon the denunciation of real sin from the pulpit — always unpopular with Christians — will be illegal as well. We are in that part of the movie where …
And I Guess We Don’t
This is just to help you get your mind around it. This math is from Ag Secretary Tom Vilsack. If someone gave you a million dollars, and told you to spend it at a rate of a dollar a second, and you started last week, you would be out of money by now. If they …
Rednecks and Homosexuals
Just a few more comments on Miss California, and then I am done. Done, that is, until the next revolution on this merry-go-round that we call cultural commentary. First, one commenter in the previous thread on this had a “physician, heal thyself” question which I thought would be better to answer here. He said that …
The Liberty University Hot Bodies Convocation Service
Am I prescient or what? Here is the reception that Miss California Carrie Prejean got at the gospel music Dove awards the other night. A standing ovation. And here is a clip from a press release by the Liberty Counsel “Miss California, Carrie Prejean will be in Lynchburg today to encourage thousands of Liberty University …
Torture and the Sum of All Fears
This will be one of those posts where I am afraid that I will make no one happy. But . . . oh, well. Torture is much in the news, and so — to the law and to the testimony. Let us begin by offending those who are recycling Joseph Fletcher’s situation ethics from back …