The best thing about being the Dean of Boyce College is the students. Since coming to the college in August, I have met some of the most Christ-centered, committed students that I have ever known. I am grateful to be here and so very thankful to have the opportunity to serve them. If I could share the blessing that they are to me with you, I would. There is at least one student, however, that I can share with you. His name is Marcus Williams (with the stage-name “Flame”), and he is a hip-hop artist with Cross Movement Records. He has released four albums since 2004 and has been nominated…
-
-
Was Junia an Apostle?
The identity of Junia (named in Romans 16:7) has become an item of contention in the evangelical debate over gender roles. Was Junia a female apostle? Many maintain that she was an apostle and that her life therefore becomes a basis for affirming an egalitarian view of gender roles in the ministries of the Christian church. In an important book on this question, New Testament scholar Eldon Epp makes the case that Junia was in fact a woman and that she was the first female apostle.
-
A Word for Post-Moderns
Abraham Piper has a clever line that I think describes the post-modern ethos of our day: “If you ask questions but you reject answers, you’re not actually asking anything. You’re just festooning tired, old propositions with trendier punctuation.” This is a little bit tongue-in-cheek, but it is actually a very serious point. The post-modern proclivity for interminable questions is very much like Paul’s description of the women at Ephesus who had been deceived by false teachers. Paul says that they are “always learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth” (2 Timothy 3:7).
-
Abortion and Racism
From Anne Hendershott at the Witherspoon Institute: “It’s never been a more dangerous time to be a black baby. . . The figures are shocking: Nearly half of all African American pregnancies end in abortion. Since 1973, the number of abortions by African American women has totaled more than twelve million. In some localities, including Mississippi, Louisiana, Maryland, and Georgia, more than half of all abortions are performed on black women. Similar rates are found for black women in New York City. . . The black community has already been changed by abortion. At a time when 50 percent of their unborn children are aborted, many within the black community…
-
Pro-life and Pro-Obama? Hardly.
Many Catholics and Evangelicals have been making the case of late that supporting Barack Obama for President represents another way of being pro-life. The argument goes something like this. (1) The constitutional battles are over, pro-lifers have lost, and Roe vs. Wade is settled law. (2) There are other evils that Christians are bound to oppose besides abortion that Republicans tend to ignore—like the war in Iraq, torture, etc. (3) Liberalized social-welfare policies will lessen the need for abortions among poor women. Since Obama is a liberal on such matters, the abortion rate will therefore go down under an Obama administration. On this reasoning, Roman Catholics like Doug Kmiec and…
-
J. Budziszewski on Prioritizing the Abortion Issue
J. Budziszewski has penned a helpful piece illustrating the transcendent nature of the abortion issue. The short narrative is a fictional conversation between himself and two students asking about abortion. The question is this. Who do you vote for when you think both candidates would enact “evil” policies? How can you vote at all when your only choices are a pro-abortion candidate and a pro-unjust war candidate? He concludes that in the current case, abortion-on-demand in America is a far worse evil than the so-called unjust war in Iraq. “Ballot Box Blues” – by J. Budziszewski (Boundless Webzine)
-
Connecting the Dots: Bill Maher and John Piper?
You have probably seen by now one of the ads for Bill Maher’s new documentary “Religulous.” If you haven’t seen it, it’s a movie that was produced for the expressed purpose of denigrating religion. The fundamental point seems to be that having faith in any religion is ridiculous—thus “Religulous.” In the trailer for the movie, the following exchange takes place between Maher and a person dressed up like Jesus.
-
Powell’s Endorsement and the Pro-life Cause
This morning on “Meet the Press,” Colin Powell endorsed Barack Obama for President of the United States. Many viewers were no doubt surprised by this given that Powell is an old military man and a Republican (like John McCain). Nevertheless, folks have often overlooked some of Powell’s political views that make him less than your run-of-the-mill Republican.
-
LSU Wins with a Mediocre Performance
LSU beat South Carolina tonight, and as a fan I can’t be anything but happy about that. The Tigers move to 5-1 and are second in the SEC West behind Alabama. [Watch ESPN’s recap here.] Nevertheless, I don’t think that LSU looked very impressive at all. Without question, they stunk up the 1st half. Against a better team, they would have been trailing by a big margin going into halftime. When that happens, it’s a different game. That’s exactly what happened when they played Florida, and I’m afraid it’s going to happen again when they play Alabama and perhaps Georgia. I hate to be pessimistic, but I can see LSU…
-
Wall Street Journal on Liberal Majorities
This is from yesterday’s Wall Street Journal: “If the current polls hold, Barack Obama will win the White House on November 4 and Democrats will consolidate their Congressional majorities, probably with a filibuster-proof Senate or very close to it. Without the ability to filibuster, the Senate would become like the House, able to pass whatever the majority wants. “Though we doubt most Americans realize it, this would be one of the most profound political and ideological shifts in U.S. history. Liberals would dominate the entire government in a way they haven’t since 1965, or 1933. In other words, the election would mark the restoration of the activist government that fell…