John Piper and Albert Mohler sat on a panel last week at ETS to discuss a recent effort to bridge the theological divide between Muslims and Christians. The effort resulted in a document titled “A Common Word Between Us,” and I wrote about it in early 2008 (read it here). I was at the panel discussion which featured two Muslim scholars and one Christian scholar in favor of the proposal, and Piper and Mohler who were opposed. Desiring God has made the audio available, and I commend it to you. J. P. Moreland moderated the discussion, and I have arranged the audio below to reflect the original order of presenters.
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Why Mohler Signed It
Dr. Albert Mohler explains why he signed the Manhattan Declaration in an article on his website (see my remarks here). Here’s his reason in a nutshell: “There are several reasons, but they all come down to this — I believe we are facing an inevitable and culture-determining decision on the three issues centrally identified in this statement. I also believe that we will experience a significant loss of Christian churches, denominations, and institutions in this process. There is every good reason to believe that the freedom to conduct Christian ministry according to Christian conviction is being subverted and denied before our eyes. I believe that the sanctity of human life,…
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Render Not to Caesar What Is God’s
I just finished reading and signing The Manhattan Declaration (MD), and I urge you to do the same. The Manhattan Declaration is a document affirming the sanctity of human life, the sanctity of marriage, and the rights of conscience and religious liberty. All three of these items are under siege in our culture today, so a group of Orthodox, Catholic, and evangelical Christians have drafted this statement and call upon others to defend life, marriage, and religious liberty. You need to read the entire document, but I would like to highlight the end. It commits signatories to civil disobedience under certain conditions. It’s punchy and dead-on: “Because we honor justice…
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Piper in Prison
John Piper left the ETS meeting in New Orleans on Wednesday to go and preach to the inmates at Angola prison in Louisiana. Louisiana is my home state, and Angola is infamous here. As Piper notes, “This prison is the largest maximum-security prison in America. It is one of the most famous prisons in the whole world. It has only murderers, rapists, armed robbers and habitual felons. The average sentence is 88 years, with 3,200 people in one place serving life sentences. Ninety percent of the inmates will die here.” As I said Louisiana is my home state, but I did not know about the wonderful, redemptive work that is…
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Chandler in SBTS Chapel
Matt Chandler had my number in chapel today. It was a spiritual wallop that I needed. Don’t miss this one. Hebrews 11 Psalm 141:5 “Let the righteous smite me in kindness and reprove me; It is oil upon the head; Do not let my head refuse it.”
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Pro-life Conversion at Planned Parenthood
Watching an ultrasound of an abortion changed Abby Johnson forever. She is now prolife and has quit her job as director of the Planned Parenthood clinic in Bryan, Texas. Johnson describes her conversion this way: “I just thought I can’t do this anymore, and it was just like a flash that hit me and I thought that’s it.” She also says that there was pressure on her to increase revenues for Planned Parenthood by increasing the number of abortions. She explains in The Houston Chronicle: “Definitely the most lucrative part of their business was abortions. One of the things that kept coming up was how family planning services were really…
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N. T. Wright’s Response for CT Article
Colin Hansen’s report in Christianity Today last week suggested that N. T. Wright’s writings have influenced some Protestants to become Roman Catholic. Roman Catholic convert Taylor Marshall puts it this way: “If you buy into Wright’s approach to covenantal theology, then you’ve already taken three steps toward the Catholic Church. Keep following the trail and you’ll be Catholic.” The CT article only had a snippet of a response from Bishop Wright. Trevin Wax has Wright’s full response here.
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Largest Church Building Program in Modern History
First Baptist Church of Dallas’ plan for a new building is said to be “the largest church building program in modern history,” the Dallas Morning News reports. There is a website that shows the plans for the building, and you can see extensive video renderings of what the facility will look like. The videos also include an historical piece on George W. Truett and W. A. Criswell.
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The Myth of Monogamy
An article on CNN.com suggests that monogamy is on the decline and that serial monogamy and polyamory may be better alternatives. Serial monogamy is “a model in which people move from one committed long-term relationship to another and choose partners for different reasons at different stages of their life.” Polyamory is “the practice of having romantic relationships with multiple people at the same time with the full knowledge and consent of all involved.” This article is really sad for a lot of reasons, but I do think it accurately describes the decline of sexual mores in American society. What’s interesting, however, is that the author does not present any of…
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The State of the American Woman–Part 2
CBMW hosted a short, informal discussion about feminism last week between Jim Hamilton and me. The article from TIME magazine that I wrote about last week is the point of departure for our conversation, and the video is above.