Albert Mohler hosted a discussion today of Brian McLaren’s new book A New Kind of Christianity. Panel members include Bruce Ware, Jim Hamilton, Greg Wills, and Stephen Wellum.

It is no surprise that this panel is very critical of the book. All agree that the book is an open renunciation of the historic Christian faith. Mohler calls the book a “brazen confrontation” of the Christian metanarrative. Ware says that the title should have been “An Old Kind of Apostasy.” He also says that before this book he had thought of McLaren as a wolf in sheep’s clothing but that now he sees that this wolf has taken off his sheep costume. McLaren’s teaching is open heresy. Jim Hamilton says that McLaren is “of his father the Devil.”

Read this book. Listen to this discussion. I’ll be interested to read your response.

Russell Moore (@drmoore) has some sage counsel for a young woman who wants to know how much she should know about her boyfriend’s sexual past. This is sound, biblical advice, and I commend it to you.

“How Much Do I Need to Know About My Potential Spouse’s Sexual Past? My Response” by Russell Moore

Josh Harris, Al Mohler, and Russell Moore will be the featured speakers at Boyce College’s conference for high school students on March 19-20, 2009, and there is still time for students and youth groups to sign-up. The theme for the conference is “No Idols: Calling Students to Single-hearted Devotion.” Grammy-nominated Boyce College student “Flame” will perform, and “Shane and Shane” will be leading the worship in music for the weekend.

Speakers / Lodging / Schedule / Registration / Contact

Last year’s conference was a great success, and I expect this one will be even better. It will be a Christ-exalting, gospel-centered, Bible-focused weekend. So please tell your pastor or youth leader about “No Idols.” You don’t want your students to miss this one.

“You shall not make idols for yourselves . . .
for I am the Lord your God.” -Leviticus 26:1

Corey Haim was my age and was a teen movie star back when I knew something about teen movie stars. His is a sad story, and this is sad news indeed.

“As for the days of our life, they contain seventy years, Or if due to strength, eighty years, Yet their pride is but labor and sorrow; For soon it is gone and we fly away… So teach us to number our days, That we may present to You a heart of wisdom.” -Psalm 90:10, 12

Old stadiums never die; they just fade away. At least that seems to be the case with Texas Stadium in Irving, Texas. The Dallas Morning News reports that fans wouldn’t even recognize the place if they could see it now. The old structure is a shell of what it once was. It’s been over a year since any games were played in it, and next month it will be gone for good. Keep Reading →

Don’t miss Charmaine Yoest’s column in today’s Wall Street Journal. She argues that the Senate’s healthcare reform bill would be the greatest expansion of abortion since the passage of Roe v. Wade in 1973. It would mandate tax-payers to fund abortions in the following ways:

• It would change existing law by allowing federally subsidized health-care plans to pay for abortions and could require private health-insurance plans to cover abortion.

• It would impose a first-ever abortion tax—a separate premium payment that will be used to pay for elective abortions—on enrollees in insurance plans that covers abortions through newly created government health-care exchanges.

• And it would fail to protect the rights of health-care providers to refuse to participate in abortions.

For these reasons, Bart Stupak and 11 other pro-life Democrats are threatening to kill healthcare reform if this abortion problem isn’t fixed. Stay tuned. In the meantime, read Yoest’s column.

Gina Welch is Jewish and an atheist. In her new book, In the Land of Believers, she chronicles her two-year sojourn among the members of Thomas Road Baptist Church in Lynchburg, Virginia.

“I wanted to know what my evangelical neighbors were like as people, unfiltered and off the record, not as the subjects of interviews conducted by the ‘liberal media.’ I wanted to try to take them on their own terms. Who, exactly, did they think they were? Why were they so determined to convert non-Christian America? And how were they going about it?”
Keep Reading →

Democratic congressman Bart Stupak continues to fight the good fight against abortion. He told Chris Matthews earlier today that pages 33-44 of the Senate health bill requires tax-payer funded abortions. He’s a Democrat, and he wants to pass healthcare reform as much as anybody. But he also says that he will not compromise on this issue. He and a handful of other House Democrats will kill healthcare reform if the publicly funded abortions remain a part of the bill. In his own words:

“It’s accurate to say there are at least 12 of us who voted for healthcare that have indicated to the speaker and others that unless you change this language, we will vote against it.”

Grateful beyond words that there are still some pro-life Democrats.

Jim Hamilton preached to the students of Boyce College on Monday night and knocked it out of the park. His exposition of Daniel 1 was faithfully exposited and powerfully delivered. You can download the audio here or press the play button below.

Jim is Associate Professor of Biblical Theology at Southern Seminary and the Pastor of Kenwood Baptist Church here in Louisville, Kentucky. He is a long-time friend, and I am grateful for his faithful ministry to our students.

UPDATE 3/5/10: Southwestern Seminary has posted its news release and tribute to Dr. Ellis here.

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I received news today that E. Earle Ellis passed away last night. He was research professor of theology emeritus at Southwestern Seminary, and a prolific scholar of the New Testament. As Russell Moore notes, “he believed the Bible when that wasn’t cool in the SBC.” We were all waiting for the appearance of his commentary on 1 Corinthians for the International Critical Commentary series. He was the consummate scholar and widely respected in the worldwide guild of New Testament Studies. He will be missed.

SWBTS will be issuing a statement in due course. In the meantime, here’s a brief biographical piece from last year on Dr. Ellis. The following is an excerpt:

Ellis was born to Lindsey Thornton and Lois Belle McBride Ellis on March 18, 1926, in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., and was raised in the nearby town of Dania. After serving in the United States Army from 1944 to 1946, Ellis began to show his academic capabilities as he completed his pre-law Bachelor of Science degree at the University of Virginia (UVa) in 1950, with concentrations in law, economics, political science and history. Although Ellis spent a year in the University of Virginia School of Law and intended to enter into a career in law, he began to develop a God-given thirst for Scripture that supplanted his desire to study law. He then studied for a time at Faith Seminary in Wilmington, Del., but soon moved to the Wheaton Graduate School in Wheaton, Ill., where he received his M.A and B.D. degrees by 1953. Two years later, he was awarded with a Ph.D. from the University of Edinburgh…

Ellis has made significant written contributions to New Testament scholarship, specifically in the areas of Pauline studies, the history of the apostolic church, and the formation of the New Testament. But he also founded the Institute for Biblical Research and the International Reference Library for Biblical Research.